James Milton Dailey v. State of Florida & James Milton Dailey v. Mark S. Inch, etc.

CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 12, 2019
DocketSC19-1780 & SC19-1797
StatusPublished

This text of James Milton Dailey v. State of Florida & James Milton Dailey v. Mark S. Inch, etc. (James Milton Dailey v. State of Florida & James Milton Dailey v. Mark S. Inch, etc.) 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
James Milton Dailey v. State of Florida & James Milton Dailey v. Mark S. Inch, etc., (Fla. 2019).

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida ____________

No. SC19-1780 ____________

JAMES MILTON DAILEY, Appellant,

vs.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

____________

No. SC19-1797 ____________

JAMES MILTON DAILEY, Petitioner,

MARK S. INCH, etc., Respondent.

November 12, 2019

PER CURIAM.

James Milton Dailey, a prisoner under sentence of death and an active death

warrant, appeals the circuit court’s order dismissing in part and denying in part his

third successive motion for postconviction relief, which was filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1),

Fla. Const. We affirm, and we also deny Dailey’s motion for stay of execution and

his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

On May 6, 1985, fourteen-year-old Shelly Boggio’s “nude body was found

floating in the water near Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County, Florida.” Dailey

v. State, 965 So. 2d 38, 41 (Fla. 2007). Boggio “had been stabbed repeatedly,

strangled, and drowned.” Id. A jury found Dailey guilty of Boggio’s first-degree

murder and unanimously recommended death. Dailey v. State, 594 So. 2d 254,

256 (Fla. 1991). The trial court followed the recommendation. Id.

On direct appeal, we affirmed Dailey’s conviction but reversed the sentence.

Id. at 259. The trial court again sentenced him to death on remand, and we

affirmed. Dailey v. State, 659 So. 2d 246, 248 (Fla. 1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S.

1095 (1996). In 2007, we affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Dailey’s initial

motion for postconviction relief and denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Dailey, 965 So. 2d at 48.

Dailey subsequently filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United

States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Dailey v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t

of Corr., No. 8:07-cv-1897-T-27MSS, 2008 WL 4470016, at *1 (M.D. Fla. Sept.

30, 2008). The federal district court dismissed or denied all claims and declined to

-2- issue a certificate of appealability. Id. at *10; Dailey v. Sec’y, Fla. Dep’t of Corr.,

No. 8:07-CV-1897-T-27MAP, 2011 WL 1230812, at *32 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 1, 2011),

amended in part, vacated in part, No. 8:07-CV-1897-T-27MAP, 2012 WL

1069224, at *8 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 29, 2012) (amending opinion to include the denial

of an additional claim of ineffective assistance of counsel and denying motion for

certificate of appealability to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals).

In 2018, we affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Dailey’s first successive

postconviction motion. Dailey v. State, 247 So. 3d 390, 391 (Fla. 2018). Dailey’s

second successive postconviction motion was denied in part and dismissed in part

by the circuit court; we affirmed on October 3, 2019. Dailey v. State, 44 Fla. L.

Weekly S219, 2019 WL 4865855 (Fla. Oct. 3, 2019).

After Governor DeSantis signed Dailey’s death warrant on September 25,

2019, Dailey filed a third successive motion for postconviction relief. The motion

raised four claims: (1) his execution would be unconstitutionally arbitrary; (2)

newly discovered evidence proves that he is actually innocent and that the State

committed Brady 1 and Giglio 2 violations; (3) the circuit court would violate his

constitutional rights if it did not order the Florida Department of Corrections

1. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).

2. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972).

-3- (DOC) to comply with his requests related to defense execution witnesses; and (4)

the totality of his punishment—including over thirty years spent on death row—

violates the Eighth Amendment.

Following an evidentiary hearing on one newly discovered evidence claim,

the circuit court entered an order dismissing in part and denying in part the motion.

ANALYSIS

In this Court, Dailey appeals the denial of postconviction relief and the

denial of certain records requests filed after the Governor signed his death warrant.

Dailey also filed a habeas petition in this Court. We affirm the postconviction

court’s denial of relief and deny his habeas petition.

Arbitrariness of Execution

In his first claim, Dailey contends that the circuit court erred in summarily

rejecting his claim that his execution would be so arbitrary as to violate the Fifth,

Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Because

the record conclusively shows that Dailey is not entitled to relief, we affirm. See

Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851(f)(5)(B) (“If the motion, files, and records in the case

conclusively show that the movant is entitled to no relief, the motion may be

denied without an evidentiary hearing.”).

Dailey argues that the circuit court wrongly concluded that “some of the

arguments raised in” support of “this ground amount[ed] to untimely or

-4- procedurally barred claims.” These included his “facial challenges to the clemency

or warrant [selection] process,” his assertion that his execution would be arbitrary

because he is actually innocent, and his claim that he had been denied the chance

to present newly discovered evidence at an updated clemency hearing.

We agree that Dailey’s actual innocence claim is procedurally barred.

Dailey has already unsuccessfully raised an actual innocence claim in his second

successive postconviction motion. Dailey, 44 Fla. L. Weekly at S222, 2019 WL

4865855, at *7. He cannot present the claim again “by merely reframing it as a

challenge to the warrant.” Moreover, we have repeatedly held that freestanding

actual innocence claims are not cognizable under Florida law. Id.; Tompkins v.

State, 994 So. 2d 1072, 1089 (Fla. 2008).

The remaining claims fail on the merits. We have consistently rejected the

assertion that the warrant selection process is arbitrary because there are no

standards that constrain the Governor’s discretion in determining which warrant to

sign. See, e.g., Hannon v. State, 228 So. 3d 505, 509 (Fla. 2017); Bolin v. State,

184 So. 3d 492, 502-03 (Fla. 2015); Mann v. State, 112 So. 3d 1158, 1162-63 (Fla.

2013); Ferguson v. State, 101 So. 3d 362, 366 (Fla. 2012); Gore v. State, 91 So. 3d

769, 780 (Fla. 2012); Valle v. State, 70 So. 3d 530, 551-52 (Fla. 2011). Related

challenges to the clemency process have also been denied. See, e.g., Johnston v.

State, 27 So. 3d 11, 24 (Fla. 2010); Marek v. State, 8 So. 3d 1123, 1129-30 (Fla.

-5- 2009). And to the extent Dailey asserts that his execution would be arbitrary

because he was not granted an additional clemency proceeding at which to present

newly discovered evidence, his claim is foreclosed by our caselaw. See, e.g.,

Grossman v. State, 29 So. 3d 1034, 1044 (Fla. 2010); Johnston, 27 So. 3d at 25-26.

Accordingly, we conclude that the circuit court properly rejected this claim.

Newly Discovered Evidence, Brady, and Giglio

Dailey next argues that the circuit court erred in rejecting his claim that

newly discovered evidence proves the State committed Brady and Giglio

violations.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Giglio v. United States
405 U.S. 150 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
United States v. Bagley
473 U.S. 667 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Strickler v. Greene
527 U.S. 263 (Supreme Court, 1999)
Dailey v. State
965 So. 2d 38 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Guzman v. State
868 So. 2d 498 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2003)
Jones v. State
591 So. 2d 911 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1991)
Grossman v. State
29 So. 3d 1034 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2010)
Walton v. State
3 So. 3d 1000 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2009)
Marek v. State
8 So. 3d 1123 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2009)
Johnston v. State
35 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 64 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2010)
Tompkins v. State
994 So. 2d 1072 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2008)
Jones v. State
709 So. 2d 512 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1998)
Tompkins v. State
872 So. 2d 230 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2004)
Breedlove v. Singletary
595 So. 2d 8 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1992)
Torres-Arboleda v. Dugger
636 So. 2d 1321 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)
Jimenez v. State
997 So. 2d 1056 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2008)
Green v. State
975 So. 2d 1090 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2008)
Sims v. State
753 So. 2d 66 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2000)

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