Supreme Court of Florida

Denial of a motion to vacate a first degree murder conviction and a sentence of death is affirmed, and a petition for habeas corpus is denied, over claims of error regarding: 1) ineffective assistance of counsel; 2) destruction of exculpatory evidence by the state; 3) newly discovered evidence; 4) the state's failure to disclose deficiencies of the hair analyst and then knowingly presenting incompetent and false testimony; 5) defendant's failure to be present at a bench conference where peremptory challenges were exercised; and 6) a failure of counsel to properly investigate and present statutory mitigating circumstances.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/22/2008
• Published 05/22/2008

Judges

• PER CURIAM.

Court

• Supreme Court of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Bill Jennings, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, and James L. Driscoll, Jr. and Eric C. Pinkard, Assistant CCR Counsel, Middle Region, Tampa, Florida, for Appellant/Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Kenneth S. Nunnelley, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Appellee/Respondent.