HAROLD SWIFT
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2022-03-11
No. 21-1008
Wallis, J., Eisnaugle, J., Harris, J., McGillin, Jr., J.
Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2022)

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Holding

When a postconviction ineffective assistance of counsel claim is facially sufficient and not conclusively refuted by attached records, the trial court must hold an evidentiary hearing rather than summarily deny the motion.


Headnotes

[1] When a postconviction ineffective assistance of counsel claim is facially sufficient and not conclusively refuted by records attached to the trial court's order, the tria…

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Key Quotes

“If the movant's claims are facially sufficient and not conclusively refuted by the record, the cause must be remanded for the trial court to either hold an evidentiary hearing or to attach record portions conclusively refuting the appellant's allegations.”

Court citing Curran v. State regarding the proper procedure for handling postconviction motions.

Facts & Procedural History

Harold Swift appealed the summary denial of his Rule 3.850 postconviction motion raising nine grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. On appeal,…

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Opinion of the Court
Wallis

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO

FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND

DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

HAROLD SWIFT,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D21-1008 LT Case No. 2016-00010-CF

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

________________________________/

Opinion filed March 11, 2022

3.850 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Putnam County, Howard O. McGillin, Jr., Judge.

O.H. Eaton, Assistant Regional Counsel, of Office of Criminal Conflict & Civil Regional Counsel, Casselberry, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Nora Hutchinson Hall, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

WALLIS, J.,

AFFIRMED in Part, REVERSED in Part, and REMANDED with Instructions.

EISNAUGLE and HARRIS, JJ., concur.

Footnotes
2 Appellant appeals the trial court's summary denial of his motion seeking postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Appellant's motion raised nine grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. On appeal, he only challenges the summary denial of grounds one, two, three, five, and nine. We affirm, without comment, the summary denial of grounds two, three, five, and nine. However, we reverse the denial of ground one, which claimed that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request that the jury be instructed on the justifiable use of deadly force, because the trial court failed to attach records that conclusively refute this claim. See Smallwood v. State, 809 So. 2d 56, 58 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (reversing summary denial of postconviction motion for trial court to conduct evidentiary hearing because ineffective assistance of counsel claim was legally sufficient and court did not attach records to the order conclusively refuting appellant's claim); see also Curran v. State, 229 So. 3d 1266, 1269 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017) ("If the movant's claims are facially sufficient and not conclusively refuted by the record, the cause must be remanded for the trial court to either hold an evidentiary hearing or to attach record portions conclusively refuting the appellant's allegations." (quoting Morrison v. State, 860 So. 2d 458, 460 (Fla.
3 1st DCA 2003))). Accordingly, we remand for the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing on this ground.

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