OMAR BLANCO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Omar Blanco appeals the denial of his second Rule 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief, which sought a new trial based on newly discovered evidence allegedly showing that another man, Enrique Gonzales, rather than Blanco, committed the murder for which Blanco was sentenced to death. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's denial, finding the proffered evidence insufficient under the applicable legal standards.
The court affirmed the denial of the Rule 3.850 motion, holding that the trial court properly found the testimony of the two witnesses not worthy of belief and that even if the other evidence qualified as newly discovered, there was no probability it would result in acquittal given the credible eyewitness identification by Vesos. The court also ruled that Blanco's challenge to the judge's impartiality was procedurally barred under Rule 3.850(c) as a ground that should have been raised at trial or on direct appeal.
[1] Newly discovered evidence must have been unknown by the court, party, or counsel at the time of trial, and it must appear that the defendant or counsel could not have dis…
[2] Newly discovered evidence must be of such a nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial to warrant a new trial.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the testimony of Carmen Congora and Roberto Alonzo is not worthy of belief and qualifies as newly discovered evidence only in the sense that the testimony presented was made up by Carmen Congora and Roberto Alonzo after Omar Blanco's trial”
The trial court's credibility finding that the witness testimony was fabricated post-trial and thus did not qualify as newly discovered evidence.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBlanco was convicted of first-degree murder in the January 14, 1982 slaying of John Ryan and sentenced to death. Following a federal court's vacation …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Newly Discovered Evidence Standard cases and more on FLexlaw
SHAW, Justice.
Omar Blanco appeals the denial of his rule 3.850motion1 following an evidentiary hearing. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm.
The facts are set out fully in our opinion on direct appeal. See Blanco v. State, 452 So. 2d 520 (Fla.1984). Omar Blanco was convicted of first-degree murder for the January 14, 1982, slaying of John Ryan and was sentenced to death. We affirmed. Id. We denied Blanco’s petition for writ of habeas corpus and affirmed the denial of his first rule 3.850motion following an evidentiary hearing. Blanco v. Wainwright, 507 So. 2d 1377 (Fla.1987). A federal district court subsequently vacated the death sentence due to ineffectiveness of penalty-phase counsel and remanded for a new penalty-phase trial. Blanco v. Dugger, 691 F.Supp. 308 (S.D.Fla.1988).2
During the pendency of the resentencing proceeding, Blanco filed his second (the present) rule 3.850 motion, seeking to present newly discovered evidence. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on February 24, 1994, and Blanco advanced the theory that another man, Enrique Gonzales, was the killer. Blanco presented two witnesses. Carmen Congora testified that on the night of the murder she saw Gonzales wearing a bloody shirt. She also stated, however, that she lives in a home for the mentally impaired, is easily confused, and did not remember the day or the year she saw the bloody shirt. The second witness, Roberto Alonso, testified that on the night of the murder he rode bicycles with Blanco and that Gonzales came in later wearing a bloody shirt. Alonso also admitted, however, that he has a criminal record, was currently in prison for murdering someone with a machete, and had seen Blanco while in prison.
Blanco additionally introduced a statement by his mother, Zenaida, who lives in Cuba, wherein she said that a woman named Mami-ta told her that Enrique Gonzales told Mami-ta in prison that he did the killing. Blanco introduced two letters, one by Mamita and one by Julio Guerra, saying that Gonzales was the killer. The State, on the other hand, presented three witnesses who had known Blanco while in jail and to whom Blanco had made incriminating statements. Finally, Thalia Vesos, the adolescent girl who had confronted the killer in her bedroom seconds before the shooting, was shown photographs of both Blanco and Gonzales and testified unequivocally that Blanco and not Gonzales was the man she had seen.
The court found that “the testimony of Carmen Congora and Roberto Alonzo is not worthy of belief,” and denied Blanco’s second 3.850motion on April 27, 1994; Blanco appealed that order on May 25, 1994; and we held that appeal in abeyance pending the outcome of the resentencing proceeding. Jury selection for resentencing commenced April 18, 1994, and Blanco filed a motion to disqualify the judge September 29, 1994, alleging that Judge Goldstein had been an Assistant State Attorney in Broward County at the time of Blanco’s trial and that the present prosecutor, Michael Satz, had been his boss. The court denied the motion as legally insufficient on October 28,1994.3
Blanco was again sentenced to death January 6, 1995, and his sentence was affirmed. See Blanco v. State, No. 85,118, — So. 2d - (Fla. Sept. 18, 1997). We have before us in the present proceeding Blanco’s appeal of the denial of his second rule 3.850 motion. Blanco raises two issues.4 .
Blanco first claims that the court erred in denying the present rule 3.850 motion. We disagree. The relevant trial court standards are as follows. First, to qualify as newly discovered evidence, “the asserted facts ‘must have been unknown by the trial court, by the party, or by counsel at the time of trial, and it must appear that defendant or his counsel could not have known them by the use of diligence.’ ”5 Second, to prompt a new trial, “the newly discovered evidence must be of such nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial.”6
In reviewing a trial court’s application of the above law to a rule 3.850 motion following an evidentiary hearing, this Court applies the following standard of review: As long as the trial court’s findings are supported by competent substantial evidence, “this Court will not. ‘substitute its judgment for that of the trial court on questions of fact, likewise of the credibility of the witnesses as well as the weight to be given to the evidence by the trial court.’ ”7
In the present case, the trial court made the following findings:
First, this Court finds that the testimony of Carmen Congora and Roberto Alonzo is not worthy of belief and qualifies as newly discovered evidence only in the sense that the testimony presented was made up by Carmen Congora and Roberto Alonzo after Omar Blanco’s trial. I therefore find that their testimony does not qualify as newly discovered evidence.
Second, assuming arguendo, that their testimony qualifies as newly discovered evidence, based on the fact that I have found it unworthy of belief and totally inconsistent with the evidence at trial, I find that there is no probability that their testimony would result in Mr. Blanco’s acquittal.
Third, this Court finds that the letters from Cuba stating that Enrique Gonzalez confessed to the murder of John Ryan would not be admissible in a retrial of Mr. Blanco.
Fourth, again assuming arguendo, that the letters would be admissible in a retrial of Mr. Blanco, I find that even with their submission to a jury, there is no probability that it would result in an acquittal of Mr. Blanco, considering all of the testimony at the trial and the testimony of Thalia Vezos at the 3.850 hearing that Enrique Gonzalez, specifically, was not the person who committed the crime.
The record shows that the trial court properly applied the above law, and its findings are supported by competent substantial evidence. Consequently, we are precluded from substituting our judgment for that of the trial court on this matter. See Demps v. State, 462 So. 2d 1074 (Fla.1984). We find no error. Blanco’s second claim, i.e., that the trial court erred in denying his motion to recuse the judge, is procedurally barred. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(c) (“This rule does not authorize relief based on grounds that could have or should have been raised at trial and, if properly preserved, on direct appeal of the judgment and sentence.”).8
We affirm the denial of Blanco’s second rule 3.850 motion.
It is so ordered.
KOGAN, C.J., and OVERTON, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur. . Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850.
. The federal circuit court affirmed. Blanco v. Singletary, 943 F. 2d 1477 (11th Cir.1991).
.The district court subsequently denied without published opinion Blanco’s petition for writ of prohibition concerning that ruling.
. Blanco claims that the trial court erred in the following matters: 1) Newly discovered evidence shows that Blanco is entitled" to a new trial; and 2) the court erred in denying his motion for disqualification of the judge.
. Jones v. State, 591 So. 2d 911, 916 (Fla.1991) (quoting Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482, 485 (Fla.1979)).
. Jones, 591 So. 2d at 915.
. Demps v. State, 462 So. 2d 1074, 1075 (Fla.1984) (quoting Goldfarb v. Robertson, 82 So. 2d 504, 506 (Fla.1955)).
. Furthermore, if we were to address the motion for recusal on the merits, we would find no error on these facts.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (129 total)
-
Freeman v. State, 761 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 2000)…object to the aggravators, after having the pretrial motion denied, was incompetent performance. Moreover, this Court has held there is no merit to the argument that an underlying felony cannot be used as an aggravating factor. See Blanco v. State, 702 So. 2d 1250 (Fla.1997). Therefore, Freeman cannot demonstrate that the outcome of his trial was affected by defense counsel’s failure to object to these aggravating factors. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052. This claim was properly summarily deni…1 / 2
-
Jones v. State, 709 So. 2d 512 (Fla. 1998)…tantial evidence, “this Court will not ‘substitute its judgment for that of the trial court on questions of fact, likewise of the credibility of the witnesses as well as the weight to be given to the evidence by the trial court.’ ” Blanco v. State, 702 So. 2d 1250, 1252 (Fla.1997) (quoting Demps v. State, 462 So. 2d 1074, 1075 (Fla.1984)). The proper rule of law for determining whether proffered evidence qualifies as “newly discovered” evidence was set forth in Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482 (Fla.1979): T…1 / 2
-
Stephens v. State, 748 So. 2d 1028 (Fla. 1999)…rt’s conclusions on factual questions are entitled to a presumption of correctness, the ultimate issue of the volun-tariness of a confession is a legal question requiring independent review). . For this reason, we do not agree that Blanco v. State, 702 So. 2d 1250 (Fla. 1997), controls the outcome in this case. As the State points out, Blanco involved the standard of review of a trial court’s conclusions on a newly discovered evidence claim. 702 So. 2d at 1252. Therefore, Grossman v. Dugger, 708 So. 2d 249, 2…
Previewing 3 of 129 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Jones v. State, 591 So. 2d 911 (Fla. 1991)
- Hallman v. State, 371 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 1979)
- Blanco v. Louie L. Wainwright, 507 So. 2d 1377 (Fla. 1987)
- Blanco v. State, 452 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 1984)
- Bennie Demps v. State, 462 So. 2d 1074 (Fla. 1984)
- Blanco v. Singletary, 943 F.2d 1477 (11th Cir. 1991)
- Goldfarb v. Robertson, 82 So. 2d 504 (Fla. 1955)
- Blanco v. Dugger, 691 F. Supp. 308 (S.D. Fla. 1988)