NICK NICHOLAS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 6th DCA | 2024-10-25
No. 6D2023-0681
2024 FL 12403 Florida District Court of Appeal, Sixth District (2024)

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Synopsis

Nick Nicholas appeals the summary denial of his postconviction relief motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The court reverses and remands because the trial court failed to provide or reference conclusive records demonstrating Nicholas was not entitled to relief, as required by the procedural rules.


Holding

The trial court's denial was improper because it did not comply with the procedural requirements of Rule 3.850(f)(4) or (5). The case is reversed and remanded for the trial court to either attach conclusive records demonstrating no relief is warranted, if such records exist, or to conduct an evidentiary hearing under Rule 3.850(f)(8).


Headnotes

[1] In deciding a rule 3.850 postconviction relief motion, a trial court must either attach the conclusive records upon which it relies to its order of denial or conduct an e…

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Key Quotes

“[QUOTE REDACTED — failed verbatim audit (paraphrase, not verbatim). See original_text for the text as originally displayed.]”

Establishes the procedural deficiency—the trial court failed to attach required conclusive records with its denial order.

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Facts & Procedural History

Nick Nicholas filed a motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The trial court denied the motion in an order t…

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Opinion of the Court

Appellee. _____________________________ Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(b)(2) from the Circuit Court for Polk County. Melissa Gravitt, Judge.

October 25, 2024 PER CURIAM.

Nick Nicholas appeals the summary denial of his motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.1 We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R. Crim P. 3.850(k); Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A). The trial court denied Nicholas’s claims in an order that alluded to points raised in, and exhibits attached, to a State response hundreds of pages long, but did not attach any

Footnotes
1 This case was transferred from the Second District Court of Appeal to this Court on January 1, 2023. records conclusively demonstrating Nicholas was not entitled to relief to its order. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(f)(5). We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to comply with rule 3.850(f)(4) or (5) if these records exist, or to conduct an evidentiary hearing under rule 3.850(f)(8) if they do not. REVERSED and REMANDED. TRAVER, C.J., and STARGEL and NARDELLA, JJ., concur. Wade M. Whidden, of Whidden Johnson, P.L., Tampa, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Cerese Crawford Taylor, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

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