Cave v. State

660 So. 2d 705, 1995 WL 555315
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 21, 1995
Docket82333
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 660 So. 2d 705 (Cave v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cave v. State, 660 So. 2d 705, 1995 WL 555315 (Fla. 1995).

Opinion

660 So.2d 705 (1995)

Alphonso CAVE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 82333.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 21, 1995.

*706 Jeffrey H. Garland, Fort Pierce, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Sara D. Baggett, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have on appeal the sentence of the trial court imposing the death penalty upon Alphonso Cave. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We vacate Cave's sentence of death.

In April of 1982, Alphonso Cave and three accomplices robbed a convenience store and kidnapped and murdered Frances Slater, an employee. Before murdering Slater, the men removed her from the store and drove her to a remote location, whereupon one of the men stabbed Slater and another fired a single lethal shot into the back of her head. Cave was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm, and kidnapping. He received the death penalty for the murder and concurrent life sentences for the robbery and kidnapping. The convictions and sentences were affirmed on direct appeal. See Cave v. State, 476 So.2d 180 (Fla. 1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1178, 106 S.Ct. 2907, 90 L.Ed.2d 993 (1986), for a full recitation of the facts. The trial court denied Cave's petition for post-conviction relief, filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, and we affirmed. Cave v. State, 529 So.2d 293 (Fla. 1988). Cave then filed a petition for habeas corpus relief in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida alleging, inter alia, ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The federal district court applied the two-prong test enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and held that Cave received ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt and penalty phases of his trial, but prejudice occurred only during the sentencing phase. Accordingly, Cave's sentence was vacated and remanded for a new sentencing proceeding. See Cave v. Singletary, 971 F.2d 1513, 1515 (11th Cir.1992). The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed. Id. at 1521. At the conclusion of the new sentencing proceeding the jury, by a vote of ten to two, recommended the death sentence. The trial court accepted this recommendation and imposed a sentence of death, a sentence which Cave now appeals.[1] Although Cave's appeal raises eighteen *707 issues, our resolution of issue one renders the remaining issues moot.[2] We address issue eight, however, to aid in Cave's resentencing.

Issue One

Cave's first issue asserts that the trial judge erroneously conducted a full evidentiary hearing on the factual allegations contained in Cave's motion for disqualification of the judge. Cave's motion was brought pursuant to rule 2.160 of the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration, rule 3.230 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, and sections 38.01, 38.02, 38.09 and 38.10 of the Florida Statutes (1991).[3] Rule 2.160 states, in part, that:

(d) Grounds. A motion to disqualify shall show:
(1) that the party fears that he or she will not receive a fair trial or hearing because of specifically described prejudice or bias of the judge;
....
(f) Determination-Initial Motion. The judge against whom an initial motion to disqualify under subdivision (d)(1) is directed shall determine only the legal sufficiency of the motion and shall not pass on the truth of the facts alleged. If the motion is legally sufficient, the judge shall immediately enter an order granting disqualification and proceed no further in the action. If any motion is legally insufficient, an order denying the motion shall immediately be entered. No other reason for denial shall be stated, and an order of denial shall not take issue with the motion.

Fla.R.Jud.Admin. 2.160(d), (f). Section 38.10 states in part:

38.10 Disqualification of judge for prejudice; application; affidavits; etc. — Whenever a party to any action or proceeding makes and files an affidavit stating that he fears he will not receive a fair trial in the court where the suit is pending on account of the prejudice of the judge of that court against the applicant or in favor of the adverse party, the judge shall proceed no further, but another judge shall be designated in the manner prescribed by the laws of this state for the substitution of judges for the trial of causes in which the presiding judge is disqualified. Every such affidavit shall state the facts and the reasons for the belief that any such bias or prejudice exists and shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel of record that such affidavit and application are made in good faith.

§ 38.10, Fla. Stat. (1993). Section 38.10 provides the substantive right to seek disqualification, whereas rule 2.160 controls the procedural process. See Rogers v. State, 630 So.2d 513, 515 (Fla. 1993). The procedural process specially provides that the judge *708 shall determine only the legal sufficiency of the motion and shall not pass on the truth of the facts alleged. When presented with a motion for disqualification, the judge

"shall not pass on the truth of the facts alleged nor adjudicate the question of disqualification." Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.230(d). When a judge has looked beyond the mere legal sufficiency of a suggestion of prejudice and attempted to refute the charges of partiality, he has then exceeded the proper scope of his inquiry and on that basis alone established grounds for his disqualification.

Bundy v. Rudd, 366 So.2d 440, 442 (Fla. 1978) (citations omitted). The motion is legally sufficient if the facts alleged demonstrate that the moving party has a well grounded fear that he or she will not receive a fair trial at the hands of the judge. Livingston v. State, 441 So.2d 1083, 1087 (Fla. 1983). The judge shall immediately disqualify himself if the motion is legally sufficient.

The Honorable Thomas J. Walsh, Jr. presided over Cave's resentencing. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Walsh was employed as an assistant state attorney in the Fort Pierce State Attorney's Office, the office which prosecuted Cave for the murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Cave moved to have Judge Walsh disqualified premised upon Cave's fears of possible judicial prejudice and appearances of impropriety. Rather than ruling on whether the motion was timely or stated valid grounds for recusal, Judge Walsh conducted a hearing in which he allowed the State to present several witnesses in rebuttal to the factual allegations contained in Cave's motion.[4] At the hearing's conclusion, Judge Walsh denied the motion as being legally insufficient.

The hearing of evidence and the subsequent ruling on the evidence demonstrates that the judge passed on the truth of the facts alleged and adjudicated the question of his disqualification. Accordingly, we find that Judge Walsh's conduct failed to follow the procedural process outlined in rule 2.160 and his error requires us to vacate Cave's sentence. Upon remand, we direct the chief judge of the circuit to assign a different judge for the resentencing of Alphonso Cave.[5]

Issue Eight

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Bluebook (online)
660 So. 2d 705, 1995 WL 555315, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cave-v-state-fla-1995.