THOMPSON v. STATE (2023)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

Tiniko THOMPSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D22-1136

Decided: February 01, 2023

Robert David Malove of The Law Office of Robert David Malove, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Richard Valuntas, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

In this appeal of an order denying appellant's motion for postconviction relief, appellant raises challenges to the trial court's denial of six grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. We find merit in only one. The trial court found that ground six of appellant's motion was insufficiently pled, but it did not grant leave to amend the motion. Pursuant to Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 2007), a trial court is required to give a defendant the opportunity to amend the motion. Therefore, as to ground six, we reverse and remand for the trial court to provide appellant a limited time to amend her motion to correct its legal insufficiency. In all other respects, we affirm.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

Per Curiam.

Warner, Gross and Ciklin, JJ., concur.

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