Hunter v. State

29 So. 3d 256, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 721, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1636, 2008 WL 4348485
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 25, 2008
DocketSC07-161
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 29 So. 3d 256 (Hunter 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
Hunter v. State, 29 So. 3d 256, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 721, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1636, 2008 WL 4348485 (Fla. 2008).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

James Eugene Hunter appeals an order denying his successive motion for postcon-viction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the circuit court’s denial of Hunter’s postconviction motion.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Hunter was convicted of one count of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of attempted armed robbery, and three counts of armed robbery. Hunter v. State (Hunter I), 660 So.2d 244, 247 (Fla.1995). The facts in this case are summarized in our opinion in Hunter’s direct appeal:

The following facts were established at trial. On September 16, 1992, James Hunter (a.k.a. Michael Miller), Tammie Cowan, Cathy Woodward, Charles Anderson, [Bruce Pope (a.k.a. Andre Smith) ], and Eric Boyd [ (a.k.a. Lee Lewis) ] traveled by car from St. Augustine to DeLand. Tammie Cowan testified that there were two black BB guns and one silver handgun in the car. Boyd and Anderson had the BB guns and Hunter had the handgun. In De-Land they stopped briefly to see Andre Smith’s mother. Thereafter, at approximately 11:44 p.m., Cowan stopped the car and Anderson, Boyd, Smith, and Hunter exited. Hunter then confronted and robbed a man on the street, using the silver handgun. Hunter and his companions then departed for Daytona Beach. Shortly afterwards, a “be on the lookout” (BOLO) alert for the DeLand robbers was transmitted by the police throughout the Volusia County area. The BOLO described a gray four-door sedan occupied by at least five black *260 individuals, two of whom were females, who were suspects.
After the robbery, Hunter directed Cowan to drive to Daytona Beach and the vicinity of Bethune-Cookman College where four young men were standing outside the “Munch Shop.” Hunter instructed Cowan to stop the vehicle, and Hunter, Lewis, Anderson, and Smith exited and approached the four men. Hunter was armed with the silver handgun.
Hunter approached the men and ordered them to “give it up.” Hunter and his companions then robbed the men at gunpoint. Thereafter, while the men were lying face down on the sidewalk, Hunter shot each of them in turn. Wayne Simpson was the last victim to be shot in this process, and he subsequently died. Hunter and his colleagues then fled with the victims’ clothing, jewelry, and other miscellaneous items of personal property. When Hunter returned to the car, he ordered Cowan to leave, and told her that he had fired the gun because a victim had tried to run. Shortly thereafter, at 12:40 a.m., Deputy Richard Graves observed a vehicle in Ormond Beach matching the DeLand BOLO. Graves stopped the automobile, and Cowan told Graves that she and the others had come from DeLand. While the car was stopped, the DeLand robbery victim was brought to the scene where he identified Hunter as his robber and also identified the car. Cowan consented to a search of the car which yielded two BB guns and personal property belonging to the victims of both the DeLand and Daytona Beach robberies. The gun used by Hunter was never found.

Id. at 246-47. The jury recommended that Hunter receive the death penalty for Simpson’s murder, and the trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Hunter to death. Id. We affirmed Hunter’s convictions and sentence of death on direct appeal. Id. at 246.

Hunter then filed an initial postconviction motion in March 1997. Hunter v. State (Hunter II), 817 So.2d 786, 790 (Fla.2002). He subsequently filed two amended postconviction motions, raising thirteen claims with multiple subparts. Id. The trial court ordered an evidentiary hearing on four of Hunter’s claims and summarily denied the remainder of the claims. Id. at 790-91. After holding an evidentiary hearing on April 5, 2000, the trial court denied all relief. Id. at 791. This Court affirmed the trial court’s order denying postconviction relief and denied Hunter’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. Id. at 789. Hunter subsequently filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, the denial of which was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Hunter v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr. (Hunter III), 395 F.3d 1196, 1199, 1206 (11th Cir.2005).

On October 3, 2005, Hunter filed a successive motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. After the circuit court issued an order striking the 3.851 motion, Hunter filed an amended 3.851 motion on January 11, 2006. Hunter’s amended motion contained the same claims as the original motion but added information to the motion. The trial court held a Huff 1 hearing on Hunter’s amended postconviction motion on November 14, 2006. On December 22, 2006, the circuit court denied Hunter’s postconviction motion without holding an evidentiary hearing on any of the claims. This appeal followed.

*261 ANALYSIS

Hunter challenges the summary denial of each of the four claims raised in his successive postconviction motion: (1) another codefendant was the shooter; (2) defense counsel had an actual conflict of intei’est in representing Hunter and a State witness; (3) a State witness was incompetent to testify at trial; and (4) violations of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972), occurred through the State’s failure to disclose threats and promises to a State witness. We will discuss each of these issues in turn, but first we will explain the requirements for a rule 3.851 motion and the standard of review.

Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 governs the timeliness of postconviction motions in capital cases. Rule 3.851(d)(1) prohibits the filing of a postcon-viction motion more than one year after the judgment and sentence become final. An exception to the rule permits otherwise untimely motions if the movant alleges that “the facts on which the claim is predicated were unknown to the movant or the movant’s attorney and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence.” Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(d)(2)(A).

Rule 3.851 also sets outs certain pleading requirements for initial and successive postconviction motions. Among other requirements, the motion must state the nature of the relief sought and must include “a detailed allegation of the factual basis for any claim for which an evidentiary hearing is sought.” Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(e)(1)(C), (e)(1)(D), (e)(2)(A). A successive motion based upon newly discovered evidence, Brady, or Giglio must also include

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 So. 3d 256, 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 721, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1636, 2008 WL 4348485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunter-v-state-fla-2008.