OMAR BLANCO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE.

Fla. | 2018-07-19
No. SC17-330
249 So. 3d 536 Florida Supreme Court (2018) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Holding

The court held that the appellant's claims regarding intellectual disability and Hurst are foreclosed by prior precedent and affirmed the denial of postconviction relief.


Headnotes

[1] A claim of intellectual disability raised for the first time in a postconviction motion is subject to the time-bar provisions of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.203.

[2] The reasoning in Rodriguez v. …

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Facts & Procedural History

Omar Blanco, a prisoner under sentence of death, appealed the denial of his fifth motion for postconviction relief. His motion sought relief based on …

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Omar Blanco, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the circuit court's orders summarily denying his fifth motion for postconviction relief, which was filed under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and 3.203. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

In 1982, a jury convicted Blanco of first-degree murder and armed burglary. We affirmed Blanco's convictions and sentence of death on direct appeal. Blanco v. State , 452 So.2d 520 (Fla. 1984). We also upheld the denial of his initial motion for postconviction relief and denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Blanco v. Wainwright , 507 So.2d 1377 (Fla. 1987). A federal court later vacated the death sentence based on ineffective assistance of penalty phase counsel. Blanco v. Dugger , 691 F.Supp. 308 (S.D. Fla. 1988), aff'd sub nom. Blanco v. Singletary , 943 F.2d 1477 (11th Cir. 1991).1 In 1994, following a new penalty phase on resentencing, the jury recommended a death penalty by a vote of ten to two. We affirmed Blanco's resentence of death. Blanco v. State , 706 So.2d 7 (Fla. 1997). We also upheld the denial of his fourth postconviction motion. Blanco v. State , 963 So.2d 173 (Fla. 2007).

In May 2015, Blanco filed his current fifth postconviction motion under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and 3.203. Within his motion, Blanco sought relief based on Hall v. Florida , --- U.S. ----, 134 S.Ct. 1986, 188 L.Ed.2d 1007 (2014), and Atkins v. Virginia , 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002). Blanco subsequently filed an *537amended postconviction motion in which he sought additional relief based on Hurst v. Florida , --- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 616, 193 L.Ed.2d 504 (2016). In January 2017, the circuit court issued an order summarily denying Blanco's intellectual disability claim as time-barred in light of this Court's decision in Rodriguez v. State , No. SC15-1278, 2016 WL 4194776 (Fla. Aug. 9, 2016) (unpublished order). This appeal followed.2 While Blanco's postconviction case was pending in this Court, the Court directed Blanco to show cause why the circuit court's May 2017 order-entered by the circuit court on relinquishment-should not be affirmed in light of this Court's decision in Hitchcock v. State , 226 So.3d 216 (Fla.), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 513, 199 L.Ed.2d 396 (2017). This Court also directed further briefing on the intellectual-disability-related issue.

We conclude that Blanco's intellectual disability claim is foreclosed by the reasoning of this Court's decision in Rodriguez . In Rodriguez , this Court applied the time-bar contained within rule 3.203 to a defendant who sought to raise an intellectual disability claim under Atkins for the first time in light of Hall . We also conclude that Blanco's Hurst claim is foreclosed by this Court's decision in Hitchcock . In Hitchcock , this Court applied Asay to mean that Ring v. Arizona , 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002), is the cutoff for any and all Hurst -related claims. Accordingly, we affirm the circuit court's orders denying Blanco's fifth motion for postconviction relief.

Any rehearing motion containing reargument will be stricken.

It is so ordered.

LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, and LAWSON, JJ., concur.

CANADY, C.J., concurs in result.

PARIENTE, J., concurs in result with an opinion.

PARIENTE, J., concurring in result.

I agree with the per curiam opinion's result because this Court's opinions regarding Hurst retroactivity are now final. Hitchcock v. State , 226 So.3d 216 (Fla.), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 513, 199 L.Ed.2d 396 (2017) ; Asay v. State (Asay V ), 210 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 41, 198 L.Ed.2d 769 (2017). However, I continue to adhere to the views expressed in my dissenting opinion in Hitchcock that Hurst should apply retroactively to cases like Blanco's. Hitchcock , 226 So.3d at 220-23 (Pariente, J., dissenting). Applying Hurst to Blanco's sentence of death, I would grant a new penalty phase based on the jury's nonunanimous recommendation for death by a vote of ten to two. Majority op. at 536-37.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Bowles v. Florida, 140 S. Ct. 2589 (U.S. 2019)
    …l rule for the first time, by requiring them to have brought their Hall claims in 2004-a full decade before Hall itself was decided. See, e.g., 276 So. 3d 791, 794 (2019) (case below); Harvey v. State , 260 So. 3d 906, 907 (2018) ; Blanco v. State , 249 So. 3d 536, 537 (2018) ; Rodriguez v. State , 250 So. 3d 616 (2016). This Kafkaesque procedural rule is at odds with another Florida rule requiring counsel raising an intellectual-disability claim to have a "good faith" basis to believe that a death-sentenced…

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