KIMBALL E. REESE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2004-03-26
No. 2D03-3338
STRINGER and KELLY, JJ., Concur.
869 So. 2d 1225 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2004) Positive Treatment
Cited by 10 cases

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.


Holding

The court held that the record attachments did not conclusively refute the defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel regarding voluntary intoxication and duress defenses, requiring further proceedings.


Headnotes

[1] A motion for post-conviction relief may be summarily denied only if the record conclusively refutes the claims raised.

[2] Voluntary intoxication was a defense to specific intent crimes in Florida in 1998.

Previewing 2 of 5 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

Facts & Procedural History

The defendant sought post-conviction relief, claiming his counsel was ineffective for failing to advise him of voluntary intoxication and duress defen…

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.


Opinion of the Court
SILBERMAN, Judge.

SILBERMAN, Judge.

Kimball E. Reese challenges the summary denial of his motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Because the record attachments did not refute ground one of Reese’s claim, we reverse as to that ground. We affirm without comment as to the other eight grounds that Reese raised.

In ground one of his motion, Reese claimed that he informed trial counsel that he had been intoxicated at the time of the offenses and that his codefendants coerced him by threatening to rob and assault his sister if he refused to assist in committing the crimes. Reese asserted that counsel was ineffective because counsel failed to advise him that voluntary intoxication and duress or coercion were valid defenses to the specific intent crimes that were charged. He stated that had he known that these defenses were available to show his lack of the requisite intent, he would not have entered his no contest plea. The trial court entered an order denying the claim, stating that it was conclusively refuted by the record. The trial court referred to a transcript from a motion to suppress hearing and attached the transcript to its order. Concerning voluntary intoxication, Reese was charged with multiple counts of burglary, grand theft, petit theft, and dealing in stolen property. The crimes were committed, and he was charged, in 1998. At that time, voluntary intoxication was a defense to specific intent crimes. See Straitwell v. State, 884 So. 2d 918, 920 n. 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (noting that as of October 1, 1999, voluntary intoxication was eliminated as a defense in Florida); see also § 775.051, Fla. Stat. (1999). Burglary, grand theft, and petit theft are specific intent crimes. See Rudolf v. State, 851 So. 2d 839, 843 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Straitwell, 834 So. 2d at 920. Dealing or trafficking in stolen property is not a specific intent crime. See Glenn v. State, 753 So. 2d 669, 671 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000).

The transcript of the motion to suppress hearing contains evidence and legal arguments addressing whether Reese’s statements to the police were involuntary and subject to suppression because Reese was allegedly under the influence of crack cocaine at the time that the statements were made. The trial court found that the transcript refuted Reese’s post-conviction claim that counsel had not advised him of the possible voluntary intoxication defense because counsel had asserted voluntary intoxication as a basis for suppression.

In reviewing the transcript, it is evident that although Reese’s counsel argued voluntary intoxication in support of the motion to suppress, the transcript does not address whether counsel informed Reese or discussed with him that voluntary intoxication could also be used as a trial defense against many of the charged offenses. As a result, we disagree with the trial court’s conclusion that the transcript refutes the claim.

Turning to the claim relating to a potential defense based on duress or coercion, that defense exists when there is evidence

tending to show that the defendant committed the crime against his will because of circumstances which either constituted a real, imminent and impending danger to himself or to some loved one, or from which circumstances shown in evidence the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe that such danger was real, imminent and impending, and did so believe at the time the crime was committed, and therefore committed the crime because of such belief.

Stevens v. State, 397 So. 2d 324, 325 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). In denying relief, the trial court did not specifically discuss duress or coercion, although it again referred to the suppression hearing transcript as conclusively refuting Reese’s claim. Nothing in the transcript refers to duress or coercion; thus, it does not refute Reese’s claim.

Because the record attachments did not refute ground one of Reese’s post-conviction motion concerning the potential defenses of voluntary intoxication and duress or coercion, we reverse. On remand, the trial court may again summarily deny relief if it can attach portions of the record that conclusively refute the claim. To the extent that the claim is not conclusively refuted by the record, the trial court must conduct an evidentiary hearing on the claim. We affirm the denial of relief as to all other grounds asserted in Reese’s motion. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

STRINGER and KELLY, JJ., Concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Aversano v. State, 966 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007)
    …unsel defense, but it applies only to a specific intent crime. See State v. Franchi 746 So. 2d 1126, 1127 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (citation omitted). Grand theft is a specific intent crime; however, dealing in stolen property is not. See Reese v. State, 869 So. 2d 1225, 1227 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (citations omitted). The state responds that ineffective assistance of counsel is not apparent on the face of the record because the decision not to request the instructions was strategic, and therefore, necessitates a fact…
  • Jones v. State, 893 So. 2d 713 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)
    …elied upon by the trial court do not refute Jones’ allegations. Therefore, we reverse and remand for the trial court to either attach portions of the record that conclusively refute Jones’ claim or to hold an evidentiary hearing. See Reese v. State, 869 So. 2d 1225 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). Reversed and remanded with directions. WHATLEY and CANADY, JJ., Concur.…
  • Acosta v. State, 884 So. 2d 278 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)
    …if it can attach portions of the record that conclusively refute Acosta’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, or in the alternative, it may hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve issues of fact raised in Acosta’s motion. See Reese v. State, 869 So. 2d 1225, 1227 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). Reversed and remanded. ALTENBERND, C.J., and DAVIS, J., Concur.…

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw