Nick Nicholas v. State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: October 25, 2024
• Docket: 6D2023-0681
• Status: Published

Opinion

SIXTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________

Case No. 6D2023-0681 Lower Tribunal No. CF15-008259-XX _____________________________

NICK NICHOLAS,

Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee. _____________________________

Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(b)(2) from the Circuit Court for Polk County. Melissa Gravitt, Judge.

October 25, 2024

PER CURIAM.

Nick Nicholas appeals the summary denial of his motion for postconviction

relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. 1 We have jurisdiction.

See Fla. R. Crim P. 3.850(k); Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A). The trial court

denied Nicholas’s claims in an order that alluded to points raised in, and exhibits

attached, to a State response hundreds of pages long, but did not attach any

This case was transferred from the Second District Court of Appeal to this 1

Court on January 1, 2023. records conclusively demonstrating Nicholas was not entitled to relief to its order.

See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(f)(5). We therefore reverse and remand for the trial

court to comply with rule 3.850(f)(4) or (5) if these records exist, or to conduct

an evidentiary hearing under rule 3.850(f)(8) if they do not.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

TRAVER, C.J., and STARGEL and NARDELLA, JJ., concur.

Wade M. Whidden, of Whidden Johnson, P.L., Tampa, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Cerese Crawford Taylor, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED