Nordelo v. State

93 So. 3d 178, 37 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 403, 2012 WL 2036004, 2012 Fla. LEXIS 1132
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 7, 2012
DocketNo. SC11-23
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 93 So. 3d 178 (Nordelo 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
Nordelo v. State, 93 So. 3d 178, 37 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 403, 2012 WL 2036004, 2012 Fla. LEXIS 1132 (Fla. 2012).

Opinion

LABARGA, J.

We have for review the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal in Nordelo v. State, 47 So.3d 854 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), on the ground that it misapplies our precedent concerning summary denial of an evi-dentiary hearing in postconviction proceedings under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction under article V, § 3(b)(3), of the Florida Constitution. See Jamies v. State, 51 So.3d 445, 446 (Fla.2010) (identifying misapplication of decisions as a basis for express and direct conflict jurisdiction under article V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.). As explained below, we conclude that the district court misapplied our precedent and in so doing erred in affirming the summary denial of Nordelo’s successive motion for postcon-viction relief based on newly discovered evidence. Accordingly, we quash the decision below and remand for an evidentiary hearing on the newly discovered evidence claim involving only the affidavit of code-fendant Angel Lopez.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The decision of the district court which is now before the Court sets forth the basic facts pertinent to this case as follows:

Nineteen years ago, a jury found Marco Nordelo guilty of armed robbery of a convenience store and sentenced him to life in prison as a habitually violent offender. Before Nordelo’s trial began, his codefendant entered a plea of no contest and was sentenced to twenty-five years in state prison.
Two years ago, Nordelo filed a Motion for New Trial Based on Newly Discovered Evidence and Prosecutorial Misconduct Pursuant to Rule 3.850. Attached to the motion was an affidavit from Nor-delo’s codefendant, a nineteen-time convicted felon, alleging that Nordelo had not participated in the robbery and naming a different co-perpetrator. The co-defendant claimed that he did not come forward with this information sooner because he was afraid that the State would take away his plea offer.

Nordelo, 47 So.3d at 856.1 The postconviction motion for new trial alleged two claims. First, based on the Lopez affidavit, Nordelo alleged that a new trial is required based on newly discovered evidence that he was not involved in the crime. Second, he alleged that the prosecutor knowingly presented false or misleading evidence that Nordelo was driving a white car when he was arrested the day after the robbery although the prosecutor knew at the time that the white car seen during the robbery and the white car Nor-delo was driving were not the same car.2

[181]*181The sworn affidavit of codefendant Angel Lopez, which was the basis of the postconviction motion for new trial, states:

AFFIDAVIT OF ANGEL LOPEZ

I, Angel Lopez, do swear under penalty of perjury, that the following statements are true and correct:
I was involved in the armed robbery of the Circle-K convenience store on May 29, 1990, at approximately 6:45 am, located at 595 SE Okeechobee Road. I entered this convenience store with an accomplice named Jose Sanchez, not Mr. Marco Nordelo.
Mr. Nordelo was not present at the time of the robbery, and was not involved in any way.
I was then involved in the Grand Theft of a Ford Taurus on the next day, May 30, 1990. I was driving this stolen car when I came into contact with Mr. Nordelo.
Mr. Nordelo was the passenger in this car when we were both arrested on May 31, 1990. Any items from the robbery that were in the car were placed there by me.
I did not come forward with this information sooner, as I was afraid that the Office of the State Attorney would take away my plea offer. I took the plea and then refused to testify. I was ignorant of the law and was afraid that if I had not cooperated with the State Attorney, then my plea would have been refused.
Marco Nordelo was mis-identified by Mr. Benavides, the victim in the robbery. He should have never been convicted because he is innocent of this crime.
I feel it is now time to come forward with the truth.

The circuit court held a hearing to determine if an evidentiary hearing would be required on the motion. After hearing argument of counsel, the circuit court denied the evidentiary hearing and issued an order summarily denying postconviction relief, concluding that the evidence was not newly discovered in that it could have been obtained earlier by due diligence and that the claim of prosecutorial misconduct was barred as successive. The order further directed the clerk “to attach all necessary record excerpts from the court file that support the Court’s ruling in this matter,” although the record in this case shows no attachments to the order.

Nordelo took a timely appeal to the Third District Court of Appeal. On appeal, although the majority concluded that the motion was “legally insufficient,” 47 So.2d at 858, it also concurred with the postconviction court on its factual conclusions. The district court stated:

The codefendant’s affidavit cannot be deemed newly discovered evidence because it was either known to or easily discoverable by Nordelo and his counsel: the court allowed them both to speak with the codefendant after his plea was accepted and before Nordelo’s trial began. Put in the context of due diligence, if Nordelo had believed that he was innocent, then he would have had a reasonable basis for believing that his code-fendant would provide exculpatory testimony and would have sought to elicit such testimony. Indeed, the record is clear that neither side called the code-fendant as a witness.
[182]*182... Nordelo failed to allege in his motion that he ever, in seventeen years, asked his codefendant to testify.
The codefendant now claims in his affidavit that the reason he did not come forward with this information sooner is because he “was afraid that the Office of the State Attorney would take away [his] plea offer.” This is nonsensical: as the court had already accepted his plea, which required him neither to testify for the State nor to refrain from testifying for Nordelo, he could have come forward with this supposed information at any time, and the State would have had no discretion or authority to withdraw the plea offer or vacate the plea. Furthermore, the codefendant does not state in his affidavit, nor does Nordelo allege, that he was coerced or threatened by anyone, including the State.
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In order for an appellate court “[t]o uphold the trial court’s summary denial of claims raised in a 3.850 motion, the claims must be either facially invalid or conclusively refuted by the record.” Peede v. State, 748 So.2d 253, 257 (Fla.1999) (citing Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(d)). Nordelo’s claims are both. First, his claim that his codefendant’s affidavit is newly discovered evidence is invalid on its face: as explained above, the affidavit provides no information that neither Nordelo nor his counsel could have discovered at the time of trial through the exercise of due diligence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 So. 3d 178, 37 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 403, 2012 WL 2036004, 2012 Fla. LEXIS 1132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nordelo-v-state-fla-2012.