Hill v. State

921 So. 2d 579, 2006 WL 91302
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 17, 2006
DocketSC06-2
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 921 So. 2d 579 (Hill 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
Hill v. State, 921 So. 2d 579, 2006 WL 91302 (Fla. 2006).

Opinion

921 So.2d 579 (2006)

Clarence Edward HILL, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC06-2.

Supreme Court of Florida.

January 17, 2006.

*581 D. Todd Doss, Lake City, FL, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Clarence Edward Hill, a prisoner under sentence of death and an active death warrant, has filed an appeal in this Court from an order of the First Judicial Circuit, in and for Escambia County, denying Hill's successive motion for postconviction relief. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

The factual background and procedural history of this case are set forth in Hill v. State, 515 So.2d 176 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 993, 108 S.Ct. 1302, 99 L.Ed.2d 512 (1988). Since that decision, we have reviewed this case a number of times. We denied Hill's first habeas petition and motion for postconviction relief, Hill v. Dugger, 556 So.2d 1385 (Fla.1990), affirmed Hill's sentence of death in response to the federal court's decision to partially grant his petition for habeas relief, Hill v. State, 643 So.2d 1071 (Fla. 1994), cert. denied 516 U.S. 872, 116 S.Ct. 196, 133 L.Ed.2d 131 (1995), and denied Hill's second motion for postconviction relief. *582 Hill v. State, 904 So.2d 430 (Fla.2005) (table case). The federal courts have also considered this case and ultimately affirmed the denial of habeas corpus relief as to Hill's convictions and death sentence. Hill v. Moore, 175 F.3d 915 (11th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1087, 120 S.Ct. 815, 145 L.Ed.2d 686 (2000).

On November 29, 2005, Governor Bush signed a death warrant ordering that Clarence Hill's sentence of death be carried out on January 24, 2006. Subsequently, Hill filed in the circuit court a successive motion for postconviction relief. He also filed a number of demands for public records and motions to compel information from numerous state agencies. On December 19, 2005, the circuit court held a case management conference on Hill's successive motion for postconviction relief and a hearing on Hill's demands for public records. After requiring one of the agencies to comply with Hill's public records request and granting Hill limited leave to amend his postconviction motion in response to the information he received from this agency, the court issued an order denying Hill's claims on December 23, 2005.

On January 3, 2006, Hill filed this appeal, raising six claims for relief.[1] Oral arguments were heard on January 11, 2006. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the trial court's order denying Hill's successive motion for postconviction relief.

Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(h)(5) provides that "[a]ll motions filed after a death warrant is issued shall be considered successive motions and subject to the content requirement of subdivision (e)(2) of this rule." We conclude that all of the claims filed are either without merit or procedurally barred.

Claim I: Lethal Injection

The trial court held that Hill was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether lethal injection, as administered in Florida, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Hill's claim is that a research letter published in April 2005 in The Lancet presents new scientific evidence that Florida's procedure for carrying out lethal injection may subject the inmate to unnecessary pain. See Leonidas G. Koniaris et al., Inadequate Anaesthesia in Lethal Injection for Execution, 365 Lancet 1412 (2005). He supports this claim with an affidavit from one of the study's authors, Dr. David A. Lubarsky, asserting that Florida's procedure is substantially similar to the procedures used in the other states evaluated in the study. Hill ultimately asserts that the information in this study is new information not previously available to this Court when it decided Sims v. State, 754 So.2d 657 (Fla.2000). The trial court denied this claim. We agree.

In Sims, we held that "the procedures for administering the lethal injection [in *583 Florida] do not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment." 754 So.2d at 668. This 2005 study, as found by the trial court, does not sufficiently call into question our holding in Sims. This study applies toxicology data in autopsy reports obtained from Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to the protocols used by Texas and Virginia.[2] No toxicology data from Florida was used. Indeed, the study recognizes that the two grams of sodium pentothal administered during lethal injection in Florida is "a relatively large quantity [when] compared with the typical clinical induction dose of 3-5 mg/kg." Koniaris et al., supra, at 1412.[3] Nonetheless, from the autopsy data obtained in these other states, the study hypothesizes that this dose may not be administered properly or is possibly being administered in a way that prevents it from having its intended effect. See Koniaris et al., supra, at 1413. The study ultimately concludes that "public review of lethal injections is warranted." Id. at 1414.

This study does not justify an evidentiary hearing in this case. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.852(i); see also Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(f)(5)(A). Under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(f)(5)(B), a trial court may deny a request for an evidentiary hearing when "the motion, files, and records in the case conclusively show that the movant is entitled to no relief." The trial court in this case correctly determined that this study does not entitle Hill to relief. As it clearly admits, the study is inconclusive. It does not assert that providing an inmate with "`no less than two' grams" of sodium pentothal, as is Florida's procedure, is not sufficient to render the inmate unconscious. Sims, 754 So.2d at 665 n. 17. Nor does it provide evidence that an adequate amount of sodium pentothal is not being administered in Florida, or that the manner in which this drug is administered in Florida prevents it from having its desired effect.[4] And, in Sims, we rejected the claim that the mere possibility of technical difficulties during executions justified a finding that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. Id. at 668. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of this claim without an evidentiary hearing.[5]

*584 Claim II: Atkins

Under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.203, Hill was required to raise any claim he may have under Atkins within sixty days of October 1, 2004. He failed to do this; therefore, his claim is procedurally barred.

In addition, the trial court correctly determined that this claim is also procedurally barred under rule 3.851(e)(2)(B). As stated in its December 23, 2005, order, "the Atkins decision was rendered in 2002, and [Hill] has provided no reason as to why he could not have raised this claim in his successive motion filed in 2003." The psychological evaluation Hill primarily relies upon to establish this claim was conducted in 1989.

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Bluebook (online)
921 So. 2d 579, 2006 WL 91302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-state-fla-2006.