JUAN IVAN RODRIGUEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Juan Ivan Rodriguez appeals the denial of his Rule 3.850 postconviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. The court affirms the denial of two claims but reverses and remands on two others (failure to retain accident reconstruction expert and failure to oppose trial consolidation with codefendant) because the trial court's attachments do not refute the facial sufficiency of those claims.
The court affirmed the denial of two claims without discussion but reversed and remanded as to the first and fourth claims because the trial court's attachments (consisting only of a jury selection transcript) do not refute the facial sufficiency of Rodriguez's ineffective assistance claims where he presented no expert witness and was tried with an allegedly adverse codefendant.
[1] A trial court's order summarily denying a motion for postconviction relief must be supported by attachments that refute the claims made in the motion.
[2] Attachments to an order denying postconviction relief must be sufficient to demonstrate that the claims are facially insufficient.
Previewing 2 of 6 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“As to the first and fourth claims, we conclude that the attachments to the order do not refute the claims, which the trial court determined to be facially sufficient.”
Establishes the court's holding that the trial court's inadequate attachments do not support summary denial of facially sufficient claims.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRodriguez was convicted of five counts of DUI manslaughter from a three-car accident in February 2003 and is serving five consecutive life sentences. …
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Juan Ivan Rodriguez appeals the trial court’s order summarily denying his motion for postconviction relief that was filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We affirm the denial of two of Mr. Rodriguez’s claims without discussion. As to the first and fourth claims, we conclude that the attachments to the order do not refute the claims, which the trial court determined to be facially sufficient. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Mr. Rodriguez was convicted of five counts of DUI manslaughter arising out of a three-car accident that occurred in February 2003. He is serving five consecutive terms of life imprisonment. In his motion, he claims that his lawyer was ineffective because she did not retain an automobile accident reconstruction expert to testify at trial. He further contends that his lawyer should have opposed the State’s motion to consolidate Mr. Rodriguez’s trial with that of the codefendant, who was the driver of the third car. Mr. Rodriguez explains that both the State and the jointly-tried code-fendant retained experts to testify at trial. The codefendant was allegedly convicted only of DUI when his expert shifted the blame for the accident to Mr. Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez claims that the jury would *508have reached a different outcome if he had had an expert or been tried separately from the codefendant.
The trial court ordered a response from the State. The response makes many representations about matters in the record. The trial court summarily denied the motion based on this response. For whatever reason, the attachment to the order is a transcript of jury selection. Perhaps the trial court intended to attach the entire record of the trial, which is itself a questionable practice. See Loomis v. State, 691 So.2d 34 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); see also Flores v. State, 662 So.2d 1350, 1352 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (disapproving practice of incorporating state responses into orders denying postconviction motions as substitute for record attachments). In any event, it does not appear that the trial transcript would refute Mr. Rodriguez’s two claims where he presented no expert witness at trial and was tried alongside an allegedly adverse codefendant. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceeding.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
WHATLEY and LaROSE, JJ., Concur.
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Clevon Ghent v. State, 138 So. 3d 1127 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)…he record shows conclusively that [*1128] the appellant is entitled to no relief, the order shall be reversed and the cause remanded for an evidentiary hearing or other appropriate relief.” Fla. R.App. P. 9.141(b)(2)(D); see also Rodriguez v. State, 8 So. 3d 507, 508 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (reversing and remanding when posteon-viction court’s reliance on the State’s response did not conclusively refute appellant’s claims). As conceded by the State, the transcript of the interrogation does not refute Mr. Ghent’s…
Authorities Cited
- Flores v. State, 662 So. 2d 1350 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)
- Loomis v. State, 691 So. 2d 34 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)