AMANDA BRUMFIELD
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2018-11-30
No. 18-1609
Shepard, J., Orfinger, J., Torpy, J., Harris, J.
259 So. 3d 986 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2018) Positive Treatment
Cited by 1 case

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Holding

A defendant asserting ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to call a witness must identify the witness, describe the substance of testimony, state availability, and describe prejudice; claims meeting these requirements are facially sufficient and cannot be summarily denied based on attached records, while facially insufficient claims must be given an opportunity to amend.


Headnotes

[1] To assert a facially sufficient claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to call a witness, a defendant must identify the prospective witness, describe the…

[2] When a postconviction claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is facially insufficient, the trial court must grant the defendant an opportunity to amend the motion rat…

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Facts & Procedural History

Amanda Brumfield appealed the summary denial of her Rule 3.850 postconviction motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. In claim two, she all…

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Opinion of the Court
Harris

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO

FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND

DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

AMANDA BRUMFIELD,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D18-1609

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

________________________________/

Opinion filed November 30, 2018

3.850 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County, Kim Shepard, Judge.

Seth E. Miller, of Innocence Project of Florida, Inc., Tallahassee; and Kathrine H. Judson, of Wisconsin Innocence Project, Madison, WI, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Kellie A. Nielan, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Amanda Brumfield appeals the summary denial of her motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We affirm the trial court’s order without discussion, except as to a portion of claim two.

2

In claim two, Brumfield alleged, in part, that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call Dr. Chris Van Ee, a biomechanical engineer, and Dr. Mark Shuman, a forensic pathologist and associate medical examiner. To assert a facially sufficient claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to call a witness, the defendant must: (1) identify the prospective witness, (2) describe the substance of the witness’s testimony, (3) state the witness was available to testify, and (4) describe the prejudice resulting from omitting the witness’s testimony. See Nelson v. State, 875 So. 2d 579, 582-83 (Fla. 2004). Here, Brumfield adequately pled her claim as to Dr. Van Ee and Dr. Shuman, and the records attached to the trial court’s order do not conclusively refute Brumfield’s allegations.

Brumfield further alleged in claim two that two additional unidentified pathologists performed a preliminary review of the autopsy slides. As Brumfield’s counsel properly concedes, the claim as to these two unidentified pathologists, as filed, was facially insufficient under Nelson. The trial court should have granted Brumfield an opportunity to amend. See id. at 583-84.

Accordingly, we reverse the summary denial of that portion of claim two concerning the failure to call Dr. Van Ee, Dr. Shuman, and the two unidentified pathologists. We remand for attachment of records or an evidentiary hearing regarding the failure to call those witnesses, after Brumfield has had an opportunity to amend her motion, if she can do so in good faith. As to all other claims, we affirm.

AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; and REMANDED.

ORFINGER, TORPY and HARRIS, JJ., concur.


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