Cherry v. Moore

829 So. 2d 873, 2002 WL 31192069
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedOctober 3, 2002
DocketSC01-2862
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 829 So. 2d 873 (Cherry v. Moore) 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
Cherry v. Moore, 829 So. 2d 873, 2002 WL 31192069 (Fla. 2002).

Opinion

829 So.2d 873 (2002)

Roger Lee CHERRY, Petitioner,
v.
Michael W. MOORE, etc., Respondent.

No. SC01-2862.

Supreme Court of Florida.

October 3, 2002.

*874 Michael P. Reiter, Capital Collateral Counsel—Northern Region, and Linda McDermott, Assistant CCC—NR, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Kenneth S. Nunnelley, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, FL, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Roger Lee Cherry petitions this Court for writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction, see art. V, § 3(b)(9), Fla. Const, and deny the petition. While this is Cherry's *875 fourth appearance before us, this is his first petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Cherry was convicted for the 1986 murders of Ester and Leonard Wayne. See Cherry v. State, 544 So.2d 184 (Fla.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1090, 110 S.Ct. 1835, 108 L.Ed.2d 963 (1990). We affirmed both murder convictions. See id. at 186-87. We affirmed the death sentence imposed for Ester's murder; however, we reversed the death sentence imposed for Leonard's murder. See id. at 188. Because we reversed the death sentence imposed for Leonard's murder on proportionality grounds, there was no new penalty phase. The facts are more fully set forth in our opinion in Cherry's direct appeal. See id. at 185-86.

Subsequently, Cherry filed a motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. No petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed at that time attacking the ineffectiveness of appellate counsel on the direct appeal.[1] The trial court denied relief without an evidentiary hearing. On appeal we affirmed the trial court with respect to most of Cherry's claims, but we remanded the claims related to allegations of trial counsel's ineffectiveness to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing. See Cherry v. State, 659 So.2d 1069 (Fla.1995). After a three-day evidentiary hearing, the trial court again denied relief, and we affirmed that denial on appeal. See Cherry v. State, 781 So.2d 1040 (Fla.2000), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 179, 151 L.Ed.2d 124 (2001).

Cherry now raises several claims and subclaims in his petition for writ of habeas corpus.[2] The habeas petition, in large measure, attacks appellate counsel's actions in prosecuting the direct appeal in the late 1980s. It was in the direct appeal that this Court affirmed the convictions, affirmed the death penalty for Ester Wayne's murder, vacated the death penalty for Leonard Wayne's murder on proportionality grounds, and directed a life sentence be imposed in lieu thereof.

Cherry's first claim centers upon the trial court's consideration and this Court's review of Dr. Barnard's psychiatric report, which was admitted into evidence during the penalty phase. This report has received much attention in our previous opinions. See Cherry, 544 So.2d at 186, 188; Cherry, 659 So.2d at 1074; Cherry, 781 So.2d at 1044-46, 1049-54. In his petition for writ of habeas corpus, Cherry now raises three subclaims concerning the report.

*876 In subclaim (1)(a), Cherry asserts that the trial court did not consider the psychiatric report and, in failing to do so, failed to consider mitigating evidence. Cherry further asserts that the trial court during postconviction and this Court on postconviction appeal failed to assess whether the trial court considered mitigation. We find this subclaim to be procedurally barred.

In its sentencing order, the trial court stated that the "mitigating circumstances were rejected by the Jury by the votes herein set forth." State v. Cherry, No. 86-4473-A, order at 3 (Fla. 7th Cir. Ct. order filed Sept. 26, 1987). The sentencing order also states, "The aggravating circumstances far outweigh mitigating circumstances in this cause." Id. On direct appeal, appellate counsel argued in point VIII of the initial brief that the trial court erred in failing to consider the psychiatric report as mitigating evidence. See Appellant's Initial Brief at 67-69, Cherry v. State, 544 So.2d 184 (Fla.1989) (No. SC71341). Indeed, appellate counsel asserted:

The alcohol and drug history portion of the psychiatric evaluation states: "[Cherry] said that in the year before his arrest he smoked about 5 or 6 joints of pot per day, and during the same period of time he smoked about $700 worth of `crack,' with the last being used on June 28, 1986." (R1168). The document further indicates that despite only a 10th grade education, Cherry has never been fired from any of his jobs, which included construction and hauling pulpwood (R1167). This information is clearly relevant; it is clearly mitigating. Cherry has no quarrel with the premise that a trial court can ascribe whatever weight it wants to mitigating evidence. The problem here is that the trial court did not even consider the evidence.

Id. at 67-68. In conclusion to point VIII, appellate counsel argued:

The failure of the trial court to consider the relevant mitigating evidence contained in the psychiatric report prior to the trial court's findings of fact, violated the [Eighth] and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Accordingly, the death sentence must be reversed and the matter remanded for resentencing.

Id. at 69.

While this Court on direct appeal indicated that Cherry raised eight challenges to the penalty phase, we only wrote at length about two and concluded the other six claims to be without merit. See Cherry, 544 So.2d at 187 ("Cherry's remaining eight challenges are directed to the penalty phase of his trial. We address two of these challenges and find the remainder meritless."). While we did not write separately concerning Cherry's point VIII, we did conclude that this direct appeal claim was meritless. Accordingly, the fundamental premise of Cherry's current habeas subclaim, i.e., the trial court did not consider the report, has previously been decided on the merits to the contrary. Thus, this claim is procedurally barred as it was raised on direct appeal. See Jones v. Moore, 794 So.2d 579, 583 n. 6 (Fla.2001).

Next, in subclaim (1)(b)(i), Cherry contends that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that the sentencing order did not contain specific written findings of facts as was required by section 921.141(3), Florida Statutes (1987). Cherry also submits as supplemental authority this Court's recent decision in Woodel v. State, 804 So.2d 316 (Fla.2001), to support his proposition that the sentencing order was deficient on this account.

Cherry's reliance upon Woodel is misplaced. Notably, Cherry does not cite Campbell v. State, 571 So.2d 415, 419-20 *877 (Fla.1990), which set forth guidelines concerning sentencing orders. As we have indicated, the Campbell requirement applied prospectively and did not apply to sentencing orders entered prior to our release of Campbell. See, e.g., Peterka v. State, 640 So.2d 59, 70 (Fla.1994). The sentencing order in the instant case was rendered and our decision in Cherry on direct appeal was released prior to our decision in Campbell. Our decision in Woodel was premised on Campbell. See Woodel, 804 So.2d at 326-27.

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