JOSEPH TURNER
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2022-03-25
No. 21-1245
Mahl, J., Evander, J., Eisnaugle, J., Wozniak, J.
Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2022)

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Holding

A trial court's summary denial of a Rule 3.850 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel in rejecting a plea offer must be reversed when the record does not conclusively refute the claim, even if some items conflict with the allegations.


Headnotes

[1] In evaluating ineffective assistance of counsel claims based on rejection of a plea offer, prejudice is determined by considering the circumstances as they existed at the…

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Key Quotes

“In the context of ineffective assistance resulting in the rejection of a plea offer, '[p]rejudice . . . is determined based upon a consideration of the circumstances as viewed at the time of the offer and what would have been done with proper and adequate advice.'”

Court's statement of the legal standard for evaluating prejudice in ineffective assistance cases involving rejected plea offers

Facts & Procedural History

Joseph Turner filed a Rule 3.850 motion claiming he rejected a favorable plea offer based on his counsel's misadvice that he did not qualify as a habi…

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Opinion of the Court
Wozniak

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

JOSEPH TURNER,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D21-1245 LT Case No. 2004-CF-35133-A

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee. ________________________________/

Opinion filed March 25, 2022

3.850 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, Jeffrey Mahl, Judge.

David M. Lamos, of Law Office of David M. Lamos, Ft. Pierce, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Allison L. Morris, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Joseph Turner appeals the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion, which alleged one ground for relief. In his

2 motion, Turner alleged that he rejected a favorable plea offer based on counsel’s misadvice that Turner did not qualify as a habitual violent felony offender. The trial court concluded that the record refutes Turner’s claim but did so by drawing inferences from the record. Even if some of the items relied on by the trial court tend to conflict with Turner’s allegations, they do not conclusively refute his claim. See Armstrong v. State, 148 So. 3d 124, 126 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014) (“In the context of ineffective assistance resulting in the rejection of a plea offer, ‘[p]rejudice . . . is determined based upon a consideration of the circumstances as viewed at the time of the offer and what would have been done with proper and adequate advice.’” (alteration in original) (quoting Alcorn v. State, 121 So. 3d 419, 432 (Fla. 2013))).

We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing or to attach portions of the record conclusively refuting this claim.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

EVANDER, EISNAUGLE and WOZNIAK, JJ., concur.


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