JACQUELINE MOORE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Jacqueline Moore appeals the summary denial of her Rule 3.850 postconviction motion raising eleven ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The court affirms the trial court's denial of ten claims but reverses the summary denial of the first claim regarding trial counsel's failure to object to admission of firearms evidence and remands for an evidentiary hearing.
The court reversed the summary denial of the first postconviction claim and remanded for an evidentiary hearing, finding that the trial court erred in summarily denying the ineffective assistance claim because there was a reasonable probability that exclusion of the firearm evidence would have changed the trial outcome.
[1] Evidence of firearms not linked to the charged crime is irrelevant and should be excluded upon proper objection.
[2] A defendant claiming ineffective assistance of counsel must demonstrate prejudice resulting from counsel's error.
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“if there was no evidence linking any of these firearms to the charged crime, evidence of the firearms would be irrelevant, and should have been excluded upon proper objection”
Establishes the core principle that unconnected weapon evidence should be excluded and counsel's failure to object to such evidence may constitute ineffective assistance
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMoore was convicted of attempted first degree murder with a firearm following a jury trial. The State introduced a firearm taken from Moore's home and…
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Jacqueline Moore appeals the summary denial of her motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, which raised eleven claims. Because the rationale for denial, along with record attachments, supports the trial court’s ruling with respect to ten of the claims, we affirm as to those issues without further discussion. However, we reverse the summary denial of Moore’s first claim, and remand for an evidentiary hearing on that claim only.
Moore was convicted of attempted first degree murder with a firearm following a jury trial on that charge. Her conviction was affirmed on appeal. Moore v. State, 942 So.2d 897 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006). The first claim in Moore’s 8.850 motion alleged that her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object when the State introduced a firearm taken from her home into evidence, along with photographs of other firearms that had been stored in her home. In summarily denying this claim, the trial court confusingly reasons that this “evidence was relevant, and Counsel clarified that none of the firearms found inside the Defendant’s residence could have fired the caliber of projectile recovered from the victim.” (emphasis added) Of course, if there was no evidence linking any of these firearms to the charged crime, evidence of the firearms would be irrelevant, and should have been excluded upon proper objection. See, e.g., Sosa v. State, 639 So.2d 173 (Fla. 3d *1179DCA 1994) (holding that it was error to admit into evidence .880 cartridges found in defendant’s car where there was no link established between the cartridges and the crime charged); Huhn v. State, 511 So.2d 583 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (holding that it was error to admit into evidence a gun purchased by the defendant which was not connected with the charged crimes); Rigdon v. State, 621 So.2d 475 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (reversing a conviction for aggravated assault with a firearm where the trial court admitted into evidence a semi-automatic weapon found on the defendant’s bed because there had been no connection established between the weapon and the crime).
The trial court also found no reasonable probability that the outcome at trial would have been different even if trial counsel had objected and the firearm evidence had been excluded. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) (explaining that relief on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel should generally only be granted if the defendant establishes that he or she was prejudiced by the claimed error). In reaching this conclusion, the trial court relied solely on the strength of the victim’s testimony, stating that the “victim had no doubt that the Defendant, who had been his girlfriend for three years, was the perpetrator.” Moore argues that the certainty expressed by one witness, standing alone in a “he-said, she-said” case, cannot support the trial judge’s conclusion that she suffered no prejudice as a result of the alleged error of counsel. Having reviewed the very limited portions of the record relied upon by the trial judge on this point, we cannot conclude that there is no reasonable probability that the outcome at trial would have been different had the firearm evidence been excluded.
Therefore, we reverse the summary denial of Moore’s first postconviction claim and remand for an evidentiary hearing on the claim.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED.
EVANDER and COHEN, JJ., concur.
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Agatheas v. State, 77 So. 3d 1232 (Fla. 2011)…counsel claim and his fundamental error claim failed. In holding that a gun unrelated to the crime was admissible, the Fourth District’s decision is in express and direct conflict with the Fifth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Moore v. State, 1 So. 3d 1177 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). In Moore, the Fifth District held that the trial court erred in denying Moore’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim where her trial counsel failed to object to the admission of a firearm recovered from Moore’s house as well…1 / 3
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Tolbert v. State, 154 So. 3d 1141 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)…d by our appellate courts is that ‘if there was no evidence linking any of these firearms to the charged crime, evidence of the firearms would be irrelevant, and should have been excluded upon proper objection.’” Id. (quoting in part Moore v. State, 1 So. 3d 1177, 1178 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009)). In this case, the State presented no evidence linking the handgun to the drug trafficking charge. Even when there is some involvement of firearms in the charged crime, evidence such as this must be excluded when “the rel…
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Johnson v. State (Fla. 2d DCA 2024)…at [the victim]" (first alteration in original)). "[I]f there was no evidence linking . . . the[] firearm[] to the charged crime, evidence of the firearm[] would be irrelevant, and should have been excluded upon proper objection." Moore v. State, 1 So. 3d 1177, 1178 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). As for Johnson's contention regarding jury confusion and prejudice, the postconviction court's determination that the expert's testimony made it clear to the jury that the firearm in evidence was not the murder weapon is…
Authorities Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984)
- Huhn v. State, 511 So. 2d 583 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
- State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Garcia, 621 So. 2d 475 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)
- Sosa v. State, 639 So. 2d 173 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994)