Jimenez v. State

997 So. 2d 1056, 2008 WL 2445461
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 18, 2008
DocketSC05-2373
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 997 So. 2d 1056 (Jimenez 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
Jimenez v. State, 997 So. 2d 1056, 2008 WL 2445461 (Fla. 2008).

Opinion

997 So.2d 1056 (2008)

Jose Antonio JIMENEZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC05-2373.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 19, 2008.
As Revised on Denial of Rehearing September 29, 2008.
As Revised on Denial of Rehearing December 18, 2008.
Third Rehearing Denied January 29, 2009.

*1061 Martin J. McClain of McClain and McDermott, P.A., Wilton Manors, FL, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, and Sandra S. Jaggard, Assistant *1062 Attorney General, Miami, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Jose Antonio Jimenez seeks review of the denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Jimenez was convicted of both first-degree murder and burglary with an assault and battery in an occupied dwelling, and he was subsequently sentenced to death. See Jimenez v. State, 703 So.2d 437, 438 (Fla.1997).[1] On direct appeal, this Court concisely detailed the facts surrounding the incident:

On October 2, 1992, Jimenez beat and stabbed to death sixty-three-year-old Phyllis Minas in her home. During the attack her neighbors heard her cry, "Oh God! Oh my God!" and tried to enter her apartment through the unlocked front door. Jimenez slammed the door shut, locked the locks on the door, and fled the apartment by exiting onto the bedroom balcony, crossing over to a neighbor's balcony and then dropping to the ground. Rescue workers arrived several minutes after Jimenez inflicted the wounds, and Minas was still alive. After changing his clothes and cleaning himself up, Jimenez spoke to neighbors in the hallway and asked one of them if he could use her telephone to call a cab.
Jimenez's fingerprint matched the one lifted from the interior surface of the front door to Minas's apartment, and the police arrested him three days later at his parents' home in Miami Beach.

Id. at 438.

After this Court affirmed the convictions and sentence of death, Jimenez filed an original rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief on January 31, 2000. On March 10, 2000, Jimenez filed an amended rule 3.850 motion, which contained one additional claim—i.e., he was entitled to relief under Delgado v. State, 776 So.2d 233 (Fla. 2000). On June 8, 2000, the trial court summarily denied the amended rule 3.850 motion. Jimenez then filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in which he sought the appointment of new counsel. The trial court summarily denied this petition. On September 26, 2001, this Court affirmed the summary denial of the amended rule 3.850 motion. See Jimenez v. State, 810 So.2d 511 (Fla.2001). On November 13, 2001, this Court dismissed an appeal filed by Jimenez with regard to the trial court's denial of his pro se petition *1063 for writ of habeas corpus. See Jimenez v. State, 800 So.2d 614 (Fla.2001) (table). On June 12, 2002, the trial court discharged postconviction counsel Casuso and appointed new counsel McClain to represent Jimenez in any further postconviction proceedings.

On April 28, 2005, Jimenez filed a successive rule 3.851 motion. On July 25, 2005, the trial court held a Huff[2] hearing for the motion. On September 9, 2005, the trial court held a hearing to enter an order denying the rule 3.851 motion. Only the State was present at this hearing. On October 5, 2005, Jimenez moved to disqualify the trial judge, Judge Ward. On November 1, 2005, Judge Ward denied the motion for disqualification. On November 30, 2005, Jimenez filed a Notice of Appeal for the denial of the successive rule 3.851 motion. On January 5, 2006, Jimenez filed a "Petition for Extraordinary Relief, for a Writ of Prohibition, and/or for a Writ of Mandamus." This Court treated the filing as a petition for writ of mandamus and denied the petition on May 4, 2006. See Jimenez v. State, 931 So.2d 900 (Fla.2006) (table). This appeal followed.[3]

ANALYSIS

I. Summary Denial of Successive Motion for Postconviction Relief

Introduction

Jimenez asserts that the trial court erred when it summarily denied various subclaims of the successive rule 3.851 motion. In Florida, a rule 3.851 motion for postconviction relief must generally be filed within one year after the judgment and sentence are finalized. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(d)(1). If this time period expires, a motion filed thereafter is procedurally barred unless certain circumstances exist:

No motion shall be filed or considered pursuant to this rule if filed beyond the time limitation provided in subdivision (d)(1) unless it alleges:
(A) 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, or
(B) the fundamental constitutional right asserted was not established within the period provided for in subdivision (d)(1) and has been held to apply retroactively, or
(C) postconviction counsel, through neglect, failed to file the motion.

Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(d)(2). Additionally, a "motion filed under this rule is successive if a state court has previously ruled on a postconviction motion challenging the same judgment and sentence." Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(e)(2). A successive rule 3.851 motion may be summarily denied on the merits "[i]f the motion, files, and records in the case conclusively show that the *1064 movant is entitled to no relief." Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(f)(5)(B). When reviewing a summary denial, this Court must accept the defendant's allegations as true "to the extent they are not refuted by the record." Green v. State, 975 So.2d 1090, 1108 (Fla. 2008) (quoting Peede v. State, 748 So.2d 253, 257 (Fla.1999)).

Here, Jimenez filed the rule 3.851 motion presently under review after his previously amended rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief had been denied. This successive rule 3.851 motion was filed on April 28, 2005, which is well beyond the one-year time period limitation after the judgment and sentence were finalized—on October 30, 1997, when this Court affirmed the convictions and sentence on direct appeal. Thus, to be reviewed on the merits, each of Jimenez's subclaims must either be based on (A) new evidence that would have been unknowable through the exercise of due diligence or (B) a fundamental constitutional right that should receive retroactive application and that was not established before October 30, 1998. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(d)(2)(A)-(B). To be considered timely filed as newly discovered evidence, the successive rule 3.851 motion was required to have been filed within one year of the date upon which the claim became discoverable through due diligence. Cf. Mills v. State, 684 So.2d 801, 804-05 (Fla.1996) (establishing such an interpretation for rule 3.850(b)(1), which has language identical to rule 3.851(d)(2)(A)).

Information With Regard To Ali

Jimenez asserts that (1) the State committed a Brady[4] violation when it failed to disclose information with regard to the cab driver Ali or, alternatively, (2) trial counsel was ineffective due to the failure to discover this information.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
997 So. 2d 1056, 2008 WL 2445461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jimenez-v-state-fla-2008.