DERRICK TYRONE SMITH, APPELLANT(S)
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE(S)
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Derrick Smith, a death row inmate, appealed the summary denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, raising claims about newly discovered evidence regarding bullet lead analysis and Brady violations. The Florida Supreme Court reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing, finding the claims sufficiently pleaded and directing the trial court to consider Brady claims in light of the Eleventh Circuit's federal habeas review.
The claims were sufficiently pleaded to warrant an evidentiary hearing. The circuit court must reconsider six Brady claims identified by the Eleventh Circuit using a cumulative materiality analysis under Kyles v. Whitley. The summary denial was reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.
[1] Newly discovered evidence may warrant postconviction relief if it is sufficiently pleaded.
[2] A Brady v. …
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We find these claims to be sufficiently pleaded to warrant an eviden-tiary hearing. Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case to the postconviction court for an evidentiary hearing on these two claims.”
Establishes the standard for when successive postconviction claims warrant an evidentiary hearing despite summary denial below.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSmith was convicted and sentenced to death, with his conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal in 1994 and initial postconviction relief denie…
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Derrick Smith, a defendant under sentence of death, appeals from the circuit court’s summary denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. Previously, we affirmed Smith’s conviction and sentence of death after retrial, Smith v. State, 641 So.2d 1319 (Fla.1994), and the circuit court’s denial of Smith’s initial motion for postconviction relief. Smith v. State, 931 So.2d 790 (Fla.2006). As explained below, we reverse and *206remand this case to the postconviction court for further proceedings.
The postconviction court summarily denied Smith’s allegations that (1) letters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding expert testimony on comparative bullet lead analysis offered at his retrial constituted newly discovered evidence and (2) the State violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by failing to disclose information regarding trial witness Priscilla Walker. We find these claims to be sufficiently pleaded to warrant an eviden-tiary hearing. Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case to the postconviction court for an evidentiary hearing on these two claims.
Further, shortly before Smith filed his notice of appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in reviewing Smith’s federal habeas petition, disagreed with some of this Court’s findings in Smith’s initial postconviction appeal and determined that six Brady claims “involve[d] favorable [undisclosed] evidence that was actually suppressed.” Smith v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 572 F.3d 1327, 1348 (11th Cir.2009). The court held that these claims needed to be considered in a “cumulative materiality analysis” under Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). Smith, 572 F.3d at 1342. These claims are as follows:
(1) Melvin Jones sought help from the prosecutor with the probation violation and grand theft charges against him; (2) Melvin Jones, fearing arrest, sought help from the prosecutor in regard to the sexual abuse allegations his daughter was making against him; (3) one or more police reports indicated that Melvin Jones had initially been considered as a suspect in 1983; (4) a prosecutor’s synopsis of an interview of David McGruder and some police reports cast doubt on McGruder’s identification of Smith; (5) a prosecutor’s note indicated that Jones and Johnson had met briefly in a holding cell before the 1983 trial; and (6) several reports showed that Priscilla Walker’s statement to the police about when Smith was at her house conflicted with statements by others about where he was during that time.
Id., 572 F.3d at 1348. In light of the Eleventh Circuit’s findings, we direct that on remand the circuit court consider these claims in its analysis.
Accordingly, we reverse the court’s order summarily denying relief and remand this case to the circuit court for further proceedings.
PARIENTE, LEWIS, LABARGA, and PERRY, JJ., concur.
CANADY, C.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, in which POLSTON, J., concurs.
QUINCE, J., recused.
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the decision to remand for an evidentiary hearing on the newly discovered evidence claim regarding the comparative bullet lead evidence. I dissent, however, from the decision to remand the Brady claim related to Priscilla Walker. Because that claim is procedurally barred, I would affirm its denial by the postconviction court. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(d)(2)(A) provides that “no motion” filed beyond the one-year time limitation will be considered unless it alleges “the facts on which the claim is predicated were unknown to the movant or the movant’s attorney and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence.” See Jimenez v. State, 997 So.2d 1056, 1064 (Fla.2009). Smith’s motion— *207which was filed beyond the one-year time limitation — did not allege due diligence and thus did not satisfy the basic pleading requirements to overcome the rule’s procedural bar.
POLSTON, J., concurs.
CANADY, C.J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the decision to remand for an evidentiary hearing on the newly discovered evidence claim regarding the comparative bullet lead evidence. I dissent, however, from the decision to remand the Brady claim related to Priscilla Walker. Because that claim is procedurally barred, I would affirm its denial by the postconviction court. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(d)(2)(A) provides that “no motion” filed beyond the one-year time limitation will be considered unless it alleges “the facts on which the claim is predicated were unknown to the movant or the movant’s attorney and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence.” See Jimenez v. State, 997 So. 2d 1056, 1064 (Fla.2009). Smith’s motion— which was filed beyond the one-year time limitation — did not allege due diligence and thus did not satisfy the basic pleading requirements to overcome the rule’s procedural bar. POLSTON, J., concurs.
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Asay v. State, 210 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2016)…, that affidavit cannot be considered newly discovered evidence in the same way as the case-specific letter from the FBI in.Wyatt. To-bin is not a law enforcement agent seeking to correct his agency’s prior testimony. See id. at 101; Smith v. State, 75 So. 3d 205, 206 (Fla. 2011). Further, one of the reports on which Tobin bases his affidavit was already itself rejected as newly discovered evidence in Johnston v. State, 27 So. 3d 11 (Fla. 2010), because the report cited to existing publications published yea…
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Henry v. State, 125 So. 3d 745 (Fla. 2013)…nce. Henry contends, however, that this ASAM policy statement setting forth a revised definition of addiction falls into the same category as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) letters that were the subject of our decision in Smith v. State, 75 So. 3d 205, 206 (Fla.2011). We disagree. In a letter sent some time after Smith’s trial, the FBI disavowed the testimony of the FBI agent who testified at Smith’s trial on the issue of comparative bullet lead analysis. We remanded for an evi-dentiary hearing o…
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Bolin v. State, 184 So. 3d 492 (Fla. 2015)…ce Bolin received “merely identifies Malone as having ‘performed laboratory work for the government,’” and was therefore unlike the case-specific testimony-discrediting letters at issue in Wyatt v. State, 71 So. 3d 86 (Fla.2011), and Smith v. State, 75 So. 3d 205 (Fla.2011), On the merits, the circuit court found that Dr. Whitehurst’s testimony from the Collins case would be irrelevant to the Matthews case. The court noted, “Malone’s involvement with the physical evidence in this case was limited to receivin…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (U.S. 1963)
- Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (U.S. 1995)
- Smith v. Sec'y, Dep't OF Corr., Attorney Gen. of the State of Fla., 572 F.3d 1327 (11th Cir. 2009)
- Smith v. State, 931 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 2006)
- Jimenez v. State, 997 So. 2d 1056 (Fla. 2008)
- Smith v. State, 641 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 1994)