Supreme Court of Florida

Trial court's denial of defendant's motion for postconviction relief from his capital murder conviction and sentence of death is affirmed and defendant's petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied where: 1) defendant's various ineffective assistance of counsel claims are rejected; 2) defendant has failed to prove prejudice was generated by the alleged Brady violation, and because he has failed to establish any evidence that was withheld, he fails under both the second and third prongs of Brady; 3) defendant's challenge to the postconviction court's determination that he is not mentally retarded is rejected; 4) defendant's constitutional challenge to the rule 3.203, which requires mental retardation challenges for defendants sentenced to death prior to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Atkins to be raised in a motion pursuant to rule 3.850 or 3.851, is rejected; 5) defendant's claim that he was denied a fair trial because of improper prosecutorial comments made at trial and trial counsel's failure to object to those comments is without merit; 6) defendant's claim that his constitutional rights were violated by the rule that prohibits counsel from interviewing jurors to determine if constitutional error was present is procedurally barred; 7) defendant's challenge to the method of execution is rejected; and 8) defendant's claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel are rejected.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/18/2010
• Published 11/18/2010

Judges

• Per Curiam

Court

• Supreme Court of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Neal A. Dupree, Bill McCollum