THADIUS EDWARD WATSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Court reversed summary denial of ineffective assistance of counsel claim where trial counsel allegedly advised defendant he need not testify despite self-defense being his only evidentiary support, and remanded for evidentiary hearing.
Trial counsel's advice that defendant need not testify at trial constitutes ineffective assistance when self-defense is the only viable defense and defendant's testimony is the sole evidence supporting that defense.
[1] Trial counsel's advice that a defendant need not testify at trial constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel when the defendant's testimony is the only evidence suppor…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“without Watson's testimony, there was no evidence from which the jury could find that Watson acted in self-defense”
Court explaining why counsel's advice was both erroneous and prejudicial
Thadius Edward Watson was convicted of a crime and raised a postconviction claim that his trial counsel advised him he did not need to testify because…
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Thadius Edward Watson appeals the summary denial of his amended motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 in which he raised three claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. We affirm the denial of the second and third claims without discussion, but we reverse the denial of the first claim and remand for an evidential^ hearing on that claim.
If, as Watson alleged in his first claim, trial counsel advised' him that he did not need to testify at trial because counsel could adequately present his claim of self-defense in closing argument, it appears that advice was both erroneous and prejudicial because, without Watson’s testimony, there was no evidence from which the jury could find that Watson acted in self-defense. The record excerpts attached to the order on appeal do not conclusively refute Watson’s allegation that counsel advised him that he need not testify, nor do the record excerpts establish that Watson’s likely testimony (which he had given at a pre-trial hearing on his motion to dismiss under the Stand Your Ground Law) was so lacking, in credibility and contrary to the'other evidence at trial that there was no reasonable possibility that the testimony would have been believed by the jury or changed the outcome of the case. Accordingly, an evidentiary hearing on this claim is required.
• AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED and REMANDED in part.
LEWIS, WETHERELL, and MAKAR, JJ., concur.