TAWA MONTGOMERY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Montgomery challenges the denial of his postconviction motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The court affirmed the denial of grounds one through three and five, but reversed and remanded ground four, which alleged that counsel provided mistaken advice about sentencing exposure in connection with a rejected plea offer.
The trial court erred in denying the postconviction motion without an evidentiary hearing. Montgomery made a facially sufficient claim by alleging counsel advised him of a 3-year maximum when the actual statutory maximum was 15 years, and by alleging he would have accepted the plea had he known the true sentencing exposure. The record does not conclusively demonstrate he would have rejected the plea or that the trial court would have rejected it.
[1] A defendant alleging ineffective assistance of counsel based on misadvice regarding a plea offer must allege that they would have accepted the offer, the prosecutor would…
[2] A defendant's assertion of innocence and request for counsel to investigate does not conclusively demonstrate that the defendant would have rejected a favorable plea offe…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“to establish prejudice based upon misadvice in connection with a plea offer, a defendant must allege that "(1) he ... would have accepted the offer had counsel advised the defendant correctly, (2) the prosecutor would not have withdrawn the offer, (3) the court would have accepted the offer, and (4) the conviction or sentence, or both, under the offer's terms would have been less severe"”
Establishes the four-prong test for proving prejudice in ineffective assistance of counsel claims involving plea offers
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMontgomery was convicted by jury of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He rejected a favorable 3-year plea …
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The appellant challenges the denial of his motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the denial of grounds one, *600two, three and five. However, we reverse and remand the denial of ground four for further proceedings.
The appellant was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a jury trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In ground four of his postconviction motion, the appellant alleges that he rejected a favorable 3-year plea offer based on counsel’s mistaken advice that a 3-year term was the maximum he could receive if he went to trial and was convicted. He alleges that counsel did not tell him that if, convicted he faced the possibility of a 15-year sentence.
The appellant’s claim is facially sufficient. He properly alleged deficiency when he alleged counsel told him he could receive a maximum sentence of 3 years in prison even if convicted after trial, and failed to advise him of the 15-year statutory maximum he actually faced. He also properly alleged prejudice by alleging that he would have taken that offer, the state would not have withdrawn the offer, the trial court would have accepted it, and his sentence under the plea would have been less severe. See Alcorn v. State, 121 So.3d 419, 430 (Fla. 2013) (citing Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134, 132 S.Ct. 1399, 182 L.Ed.2d 379 (2012), which provided that to establish prejudice based upon misadvice in connection with a plea offer, a defendant must allege that “(1) he ... would have accepted the offer had counsel advised the defendant correctly, (2) the prosecutor would not have withdrawn the offer, (3) the court would have accepted the offer, and (4) the conviction or sentence, or both, under the offer’s terms would have been less severe”). Thus, the trial court could only deny the claim without an evidentiary hearing if it is refuted by the record. The trial court rejected the appellant’s claim based on a determination that (1) the record indicated the appellant wanted to go to trial and would therefore not have accepted the plea, as evidenced by his assertions of innocence and his request for counsel to investigate the charge,, conduct discovery and investigate witnesses, and (2) the court would not have accepted the plea,* as evidenced by the fact that it sentenced the appellant to the maximum term, the appellant had’ 6 prior felonies, and the trial court stated that felons possessing firearms was a serious crime. We disagree with the trial court’s conclusion. Nothing in the record before this Court conclusively demonstrates that the appellant would still have rejected the plea had he been properly informed, or that the trial court would have rejected it: Merely asserting his innocence and asking counsel to investigate and challenge the evidence does not prove that the appellant would have rejected a 3-year plea deal had he been informed of the 15-year sentence he was facing, Likewise, the fact that the trial court imposed the maximum sentence and felt felons possessing a firearm is a serious offense does not prove it would have rejected a 3-year plea deal. Thus, we reverse and remand the denial of ground four for the trial court to attach other portions of the record conclusively demonstrating the appellant is not entitled to relief or to conduct an evidentiary hearing..
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED and REMANDED in part for further proceedings-.
B.L. THOMAS, C.J., and JAY and M.K, THOMAS,' JJ., CONCUR.
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Citator
Cited By
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Baker v. State (Fla. 1st DCA 2026)…fashioned after the fact to defeat a postconviction claim. Alcorn, 121 So. 3d at 432 (stating that prejudice is determined based upon a consideration of the circumstances as viewed at the time of the offer). Appellant relies on Montgomery v. State, 231 So. 3d 599 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017), for the proposition that the trial court's reasoning is insufficient to support summary denial. Montgomery is distinguishable in a critical respect that the opinion itself identified. In Montgomery, the postconviction court was…
Authorities Cited
- Alcorn v. State, 121 So. 3d 419 (Fla. 2013)
- Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (U.S. 2012)