MARK KOONS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2015-05-15
No. 5D14-3997
WALLIS and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.
165 So. 3d 718 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2015) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

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.

Synopsis

Mark Koons appealed the trial court's summary denial of his successive Rule 3.850 postconviction relief motion. The court affirmed, holding that Koons failed to allege new and different grounds for relief or provide good cause for failing to raise such grounds in his initial motion, thus meeting the statutory requirements for summary dismissal of successive motions.


Holding

The court affirmed the summary denial of the successive motion. Under Rule 3.850(h)(2), a successive motion may be summarily dismissed if it fails to allege new or different grounds for relief and the prior determination was on the merits, or if new and different grounds are alleged, the movant must justify the failure to assert those grounds in the prior motion. Koons's successive motion was facially insufficient because it failed to allege new and different grounds and failed to provide good cause, thus he did not meet his burden and the summary denial was proper.


Headnotes

[1] A successive motion for postconviction relief may be denied if it fails to allege new or different grounds for relief and the prior determination was on the merits.

[2] A movant bears the burden of alleging new grounds in a successive postconviction motion and justifying the failure to raise those grounds in a prior motion.

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

Key Quotes

“When filing a successive 3.850 motion, the burden is on the movant to allege grounds that are new and different than those raised in the previous motion and justify his or her failure to raise the asserted grounds in the previous 3.850 motion.”

Establishes the standard for successive motions and the burden placed on the movant

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Koons filed an initial Rule 3.850 motion raising three grounds for relief, which the trial court summarily denied and this Court per curiam affirmed. …

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.


Opinion of the Court
COHEN, J.

COHEN, J.

Mark Koons seeks review of the trial court’s summary denial of his second Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for postconviction relief. We affirm.

Koons’s initial Rule 3.850 motion raised three grounds for relief. The trial court summarily denied that motion, and this Court per curiam affirmed. See Koons v. State, 140 So.3d 597 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014). Koons then filed a successive 3.850 motion, raising nine grounds for relief. The trial court summarily denied the second motion on the ground that it was successive.

Under the current version of Rule 3.850(h)(2), a trial court cannot deny a successive 3.850 motion simply because it is successive; instead, the court may deny it provided that certain conditions are met. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(h)(2). That rule states:

A second or successive motion is an extraordinary pleading. Accordingly, a court may dismiss a second or successive motion if the court finds that it fails to allege new or different grounds for relief and the prior determination was on the merits or, if new and different grounds are alleged, the judge finds that the failure of the defendant or the attorney to assert those grounds in a prior motion constituted an abuse of the procedure or there was no good cause for the failure of the defendant or defendant’s counsel to have asserted those grounds in a prior motion. When a motion is dismissed under this subdivision, a copy of that portion of the files and records necessary to support the court’s ruling shall accompany the order denying the motion.

Fla. R, Crim. P. 3.850(h)(2).

When filing a successive 3.850 motion, the burden is on the movant to allege grounds that are new and different than those raised in the previous motion and justify his or her failure to raise the asserted grounds in the previous 3.850 motion. Christopher v. State, 489 So.2d 22, 24 (Fla.1986); Morris v. State, 134 So.3d 1066, 1067-68 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013); see also Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(c)(5) (“The motion must also include an explanation of ... the reason or reasons the claim or claims in the present motion were not raised in the former motion or motions.”). The movant may do this by, for example, alleging that the grounds asserted were not known and could not have been known to him at the time of the earlier motions. See Zeigler v. State, 632 So.2d 48, 51 (Fla.1993); Christopher, 489 So.2d at 24. When the movant fails to allege new and different grounds, or fails to allege good cause for why the new and different *720grounds were not alleged earlier, the court may summarily deny the motion as successive. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(h)(2). But when the movant does allege new and. different grounds and justifies the failure to raise those grounds in the first motion, the court must make a specific finding that “the failure of the defendant or the attorney to assert those grounds in a prior motion constituted an abuse of the procedure or there was no good cause for the failure” before summarily denying the motion. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 8.850(h)(2).

Here, Koons’s successive motion did not allege that the grounds asserted were new and different. Nor did it allege any good cause for failing to raise any new and different claims in his first 3.850 motion. Because the motion was facially insufficient and Koons failed to meet his burden, we affirm the trial court’s order.1

AFFIRMED.

WALLIS and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Game v. State, 253 So. 3d 774 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018)
    …PER CURIAM. [*775] AFFIRMED. See Koons v. State, 165 So. 3d 718 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015). COHEN, C.J., ORFINGER and WALLIS, JJ., concur.…
  • Jackson v. State (Fla. 3d DCA 2020)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Koons v. State, 165 So. 3d 718, 720 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015) (“[Appellant’s] successive motion did not allege that the grounds asserted were new and different. Nor did it allege any good cause for failing to raise any new and different claims in his first 3.850 motion. Because the m…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw