THOMAS C. O'BRYANT, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2000-05-22
No. 1D98-3107
BOOTH and PADOVANO, JJ., concur.
765 So. 2d 745 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2000) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Holding

The court held that the denial of postconviction relief for claims regarding voluntary intoxication defense and involuntary plea due to misadvised penalty range was improper.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant sufficiently pleads the deficient performance prong of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on failure to pursue a voluntary intoxication defense…

[2] In a plea case, a defendant sufficiently pleads the prejudice prong of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim by alleging they would not have pled but for counsel's i…

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant challenged the denial of his motion for postconviction relief, specifically focusing on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel regardin…

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Opinion of the Court
WOLF, J.

WOLF, J.

Appellant challenges the denial of his motion for postconviction relief filed pursu ant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Appellant raised eight claims in his motion and challenges the denial mf all eight claims.

We affirm the denial of six of those claims without comment.

We reverse, however, the denial of appellant’s third claim of ineffective assistance of defense counsel based upon counsel’s failure to properly advise appellant of the applicability of the voluntary intoxication defense, and the denial of his sixth claim that his plea had been involuntarily entered because he had been affirmatively misadvised by the prosecutor and defense counsel of the range of penalties available at the time for attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer.

We reverse because the record excerpts attached to the order denying relief do not conclusively refute the allegation contained in appellant’s motion supporting these two claims.

Appellant entered a negotiated guilty plea to one count of robbery while armed with a firearm and one count of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer. The offenses to which appellant pled guilty were committed on June 10, 1995. The law in effect at the time appellant committed his offenses authorized as possible sentences for the crime of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer a term of life imprisonment or a term of years not to exceed 40 years imprisonment, with the offender being required to serve at least 25 years in prison whether a life sentence or a term of years was imposed. See §§ 784.07(3), 775.082(3)(a), and 775.0825, Fla. Stat (1993).

As part of his plea agreement, appellant agreed to sentences of life imprisonment on each count, and the state agreed to have both sentences run concurrent with one another. In accordance with his plea agreement, appellant was adjudicated guilty of these offenses and sentenced in January 1996 to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment, with 25 years minimum mandatory to be served for the attempted murder and 3 years minimum mandatory to be served for the robbery. Appellant did not appeal from these convictions and sentences.

In his third claim for postconviction relief, appellant alleged that he had informed defense counsel that he had heavily used alcohol, marijuana, crack cocaine, and LSD on the night of the offenses. Appellant further alleged in his motion that he had specifically informed defense counsel that he had been awake and consuming alcohol and drugs continuously during the four days leading up to the time of the offenses. Appellant alleged in his motion that he would not have accepted the terms of his negotiated plea agreement had he been correctly informed that voluntary intoxication could have been used as a defense.

This court has held that a defendant sufficiently pleads the deficient performance aspect of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on defense counsel’s failure to identify and pursue a voluntary intoxication defense if the defendant alleges that he either informed his attorney that he was intoxicated at the time of the offense or told his attorney that he had a history of substance abuse, which, with record evidence of his intoxication at the time of the offense, should have alerted his counsel to the possibility of such a defense. See McKinney v. State, 722 So. 2d 933, 934 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998).

In the context of a plea case, a defendant sufficiently pleads the prejudice component of such an ineffective assistance of counsel claim if he alleges that he would not have pled but for defense counsel’s ineffectiveness regarding the voluntary intoxication defense. See Grady v. State, 687 So. 2d 931, 932 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997).

Appellant’s allegations as to his third claim were, therefore, legally sufficient.

In his sixth claim for postconviction relief, appellant alleged that he would not have accepted the terms of the negotiated plea agreement had he been correctly informed that the trial court could have opt ed to sentence him to a term of only 40 years instead of life. Similar allegations by defendants seeking to withdraw their pleas postsentencing via rule 3.850 motions for postconviction relief have been held legally sufficient to require either attachment of those portions of the record conclusively refuting the allegations or an evidentiary hearing. See Fernandez v. State, 701 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Gilyard v. State, 675 So. 2d 950 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996).

No portions of the record on appeal conclusively refute appellant’s legally sufficient claim that his plea had been entered involuntarily without an understanding of the actual range of penalties available for the' offense of attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer. At no point during the entire plea and sentencing hearing (the complete transcript of which was included in the record on appeal as an attachment to the state’s response), did the trial court ever explain to appellant that a possible sentence for the crime of attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer was a term of imprisonment not exceeding 40 years. Appellant’s sixth claim is, therefore, not conclusively refuted by the record.

Accordingly, on the record presented in this case, we must reverse and remand either for attachment of those portions of the record which conclusively refute appellant’s third and sixth claims, or for an evidentiary hearing on those claims.

BOOTH and PADOVANO, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Childers v. State, 782 So. 2d 513 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …with the allegation that the appellant would not have pled had he been correctly informed, is enough to require either attachment of those portions of the record conclusively refuting the allegations or an evidentiary hearing. See O’Bryant v. State, 765 So. 2d 745 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000); Watson v. State, 667 So. 2d 242 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995), citing Koenig v. State, 597 So. 2d 256 (Fla.1992) (although a defendant [*518] may have signed a plea which addressed some of what Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.170 requires that a defendan…
  • Odom v. State, 782 So. 2d 510 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …ld that the prejudice component of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim is satisfied in this context by an allegation that the defendant would not have entered the plea had the availability of the defense been disclosed. See O’Bryant v. State, 765 So. 2d 745 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000); Thomas v. State, 734 So. 2d 1138 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999); Grady v. State, 687 So. 2d 931 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). I am bound by these decisions, but I think that they misstate the applicable federal constitutional standard for asserting…
  • Chuck Steven Thompson v. State, 818 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002)
    …otice that the defendant was intoxicated shortly before the commission of the crime. Compare West v. State, 791 So. 2d 527 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001). He also alleged that he would have gone to trial absent counsel’s erroneous advice. In O’Bryant v. State, 765 So. 2d 745 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000), this court commented: This court has held that a defendant sufficiently pleads the deficient performance aspect of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on defense counsel’s failure to identify and pursue a voluntary…

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