GEORGE PARKS, JR., 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.
George Parks appeals the denial of his Rule 3.850 postconviction motion challenging drug convictions from 1996, claiming the prosecutor withheld a confidential informant's 1994 arrest affidavit. The court affirms the denial, finding the motion time-barred because Parks knew of the informant's prior arrests by 2001, well before the two-year discovery deadline, and prohibits him from filing further pro se pleadings in this case.
The motion was time-barred because Parks knew about the informant's prior arrests by at least September 2001, making the June 2006 filing outside the two-year discovery deadline. Parks has abused the judicial process through successive frivolous filings, and he is prohibited from filing further pro se pleadings in this case.
[1] A claim of newly discovered evidence must be made within two years from the date upon which the evidence could have been discovered through the use of due diligence.
[2] A defendant's awareness of an informant's potential prior arrests, even if not the specific affidavit, can establish knowledge for purposes of the two-year deadline for n…
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“A claim of newly discovered evidence "must be made within two years from the date upon which the evidence could have been discovered through the use of due diligence."”
Establishes the controlling legal standard for Rule 3.850 newly discovered evidence claims.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceParks was convicted in 1996 of sale and possession of cocaine in Citrus County. The prosecution used a confidential informant in the case. Parks filed…
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 Successive Filings cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
George Parks, Jr., appeals from the denial of his latest rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief, challenging convictions for crimes committed ten years ago in Citrus County, Florida.1 This is Parks’ ninth appellate proceeding challenging his convictions for sale of cocaine and possession of cocaine stemming from Fifth Judicial Circuit Case No. 96-CF-507. In his instant motion, Parks argues that the prosecutor improperly withheld from discovery a 1994 arrest affidavit for a confidential informant utilized by the State in Parks’ case. In order to avoid the two-year deadline for rule 3.850 motions, Parks alleges that the 1994 arrest affidavit is newly discovered evidence that he did not become aware of until early in 2006.
However, it is clear from our review of Parks’ prior postconviction filings that he was aware of the arrest (or at least the possibility of other arrests) at least as early as 2001. In a September 4, 2001, rule 3.850 motion, Parks alleged that his counsel was ineffective for failing to more fully investigate this same informant’s “other crimes of dishonesty to support her [drug] addiction.”2 A claim of newly discovered evidence “must be made within two years from the date upon which the evidence could have been discovered through the use of due diligence.” Mac-Farland v. State, 929 So. 2d 549, 550 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006).
It is abundantly clear that Parks knew about this informant’s other prior arrests when he filed his September 4, 2001 motion, and he has made no showing as to why he could not have discovered the 1994 arrest affidavit within two years of that date.
Therefore, we find that Parks’ current rule 3.850 motion, filed on June 18, 2006, was clearly time-barred. As such, the trial court’s summary denial was proper. Because Parks’s current appeal appeared to be frivolous, this Court issued a Spencer3 show cause order. In response, Parks simply attempts to re-argue the merits of his rule 3.850 motion. Having carefully considered Parks’s response, along with his prior filings with this Court, we find that Parks is clearly abusing the judicial process with his successive attacks on his convictions and sentences in this case.
Therefore, in order to conserve judicial resources, we prohibit George Parks, Jr., from filing with this Court any further pro se pleadings concerning Citrus County, Fifth Judicial Circuit Case No. 96-CF-507. Any further pleadings regarding this case will be summarily rejected by the Clerk, unless they are filed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar. See Isley v. State, 652 So. 2d 409, 410 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) (“Enough is enough.”). The Clerk is further directed to forward a certified copy of this opinion to the appropriate institution for consideration of disciplinary procedures. See § 944.279(1), Fla. Stat. (2005); Simpkins v. State, 909 So. 2d 427, 428 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005).
AFFIRMED; future pro se filings PROHIBITED; certified opinion FORWARDED to Department of Corrections.
PLEUS, C.J., PALMER, and LAWSON, JJ., concur. . See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850.
. At trial, the parties discussed the informant’s arrests for possession of cocaine and uttering a forged check. These charges were pending against the informant at the time of Parks’s trial. According to Parks’s motion, the 1994 arrest was for attempting to acquire a controlled substance by fraud. That charge was dismissed in October 1995, after the informant successfully completed a pretrial diversion program.
.State v. Spencer, 7,51 So. 2d 47 (Fla.1999).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Culpepper v. State, 957 So. 2d 1188 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Parks v. State, 944 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 5th DCA, 2006).…
Authorities Cited
- Isley v. State, 652 So. 2d 409 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)
- Simpkins v. State, 909 So. 2d 427 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)
- Lifton Robinson, Jr. v. State, 929 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)
- MacFARLAND v. State, 929 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)