ZEMAN v. STATE (2020)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

Zachary ZEMAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D19-3286

Decided: September 23, 2020

Brooke Elvington, Dunedin, for appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Mitchell A. Egber, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

Zachary Zeman appeals an order denying his rule 3.850 motion after an evidentiary hearing. We affirm.

The trial court determined that the two newly discovered witnesses were not credible when it adopted “as its own,” the “facts, legal analyses, conclusions of law” contained in the state's closing argument. The state's argument centered around the lack of credibility of these two witnesses. This court cannot substitute its own findings for those of the trial court, including those addressing the credibility of witnesses. Blanco v. State, 702 So. 2d 1250, 1252 (Fla. 1997).

Affirmed.

Per Curiam.

Levine, C.J., Warner and Damoorgian, JJ., concur.

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