RAY OWENS, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Ray Owens appeals the summary denial of successive rule 3.850 motions for postconviction relief raising new ineffective assistance of counsel claims in two drug conviction cases. The court reverses, holding that distinct ineffective assistance claims raised in separate postconviction motions should not be summarily denied as successive merely because different counsel-related claims were previously litigated on direct appeal.
The court reversed, holding that the motions should not have been summarily denied as successive. Distinct claims of ineffective assistance of counsel not previously raised cannot be barred as successive merely because different ineffective assistance claims were litigated on direct appeal. The trial court must consider the motions on the merits.
[1] A motion for postconviction relief should not be summarily denied as successive if the prior claims of ineffective assistance of counsel raised different grounds.
[2] A defendant is not required to establish in a postconviction motion that claims of ineffective assistance of counsel could not have been raised on direct appeal.
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“Under the circumstances, the motions should not have been denied as successive.”
The court's core holding that distinct ineffective assistance claims cannot be barred as successive merely because different counsel-related claims were previously litigated.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOwens was charged in three drug cases from 1998. He was acquitted in one case and convicted in two cases (L.T. case numbers 98-4769 and 98-4826). Foll…
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PER CURIAM.
Ray Owens, Jr. (Defendant) appeals an order summarily denying, as successive, his motions for postconviction relief, filed pursuant to rule 3.850, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, in two different lower tribunal cases. We reverse and remand for the trial court to consider the motions on the merits.
Defendant was charged in three drugs cases, all allegedly occurring in 1998; following three jury trials, he was acquitted in one and found guilty as charged in the other two. He was convicted in L.T. case numbers 98-4769 and 98-4826. In connection with a single direct appeal from both convictions, this court remanded for an evidentiary hearing with respect to both cases on Defendant’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, apparent from the face of the record. See Owens v. State, 792 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). Following the evidentiary hearing on January 3, 2002, an order denying relief was entered on January 25, 2002.1 Defendant appealed and, in case number 4D02-1084, this court affirmed per curiam without opinion. Owens v. State, 845 So. 2d 209 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (Table).
Thereafter Defendant filed separate rule 3.850 motions for postconviction relief in both lower tribunal cases, raising distinct claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The state’s response concedes the motions were timely filed within two years from the date the mandate issued in case number 4D02-1084.
In one order captioned in connection with all three lower tribunal case numbers, the trial court summarily denied both motions, stating that Defendant’s new claims of ineffective assistance of counsel were barred as successive where different grounds were previously raised and rejected after an evidentiary hearing in an order entered on January 28, 2002, attaching a copy of the order entered after the hearing on remand from the direct appeal. It did not attach any prior rule 3.850 motion to establish successiveness.
Under the circumstances, the motions should not have been denied as successive. See Loren v. State, 601 So. 2d 271 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (reversing the summary denial of a defendant’s ineffectiveness claim raised by motion for postconviction relief, holding it was not barred by her assertion of a different ineffective assistance of counsel claim on direct appeal); Martin v. State, 501 So. 2d 1313 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (reversing the denial of a postconviction motion, after evidentiary hearing, where the trial court had ruled that the issue of ineffective assistance of the defendant’s second counsel, Pafford, was res judicata because the ineffective assistance of her first attorney, Wolbert, became an issue on direct appeal, as the specific allegations concerning attorney Pafford had not been preserved for appeal).
Ordinarily, claims of ineffective assistance are not renewable on direct appeal. We reject the state’s argument that it was Defendant’s burden to establish in his motion that the claims of ineffective assistance of counsel now raised could not have been raised also on direct appeal. While certain grounds appear to be legally insufficient, others — which the state argues the trial court would have denied on the merits based on the evidence presented at trial — require portions of the record to refute them. We decline to consider the merits of these motions before the trial court does so and thus reverse and remand for the trial court to consider both motions on the merits.
Reversed and Remanded.
FARMER, SHAHOOD and HAZOURI, JJ., concur. . The order bears a certificate of service dated January 28, 2002, perhaps explaining why the trial court later would refer to it by that date. It inaccurately purported to deny a motion for postconviction relief.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Loren v. State, 601 So. 2d 271 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- Martin v. State, 501 So. 2d 1313 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
- Ramirez v. State, 792 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001)