Rose v. State

774 So. 2d 629, 2000 WL 1508576
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedOctober 12, 2000
DocketSC95227
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 774 So. 2d 629 (Rose 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
Rose v. State, 774 So. 2d 629, 2000 WL 1508576 (Fla. 2000).

Opinion

774 So.2d 629 (2000)

Milo A. ROSE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC95227.

Supreme Court of Florida.

October 12, 2000.
Rehearing Denied December 21, 2000.

*630 Gregory C. Smith, Capital Collateral Counsel, John A. Tomasino, Assistant Capital Collateral Counsel, and Linda McDermott, Assistant Capital Collateral Counsel, Northern Region, Tallahassee, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Carol M. Dittmar, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Milo A. Rose, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the trial court's denial of his motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

BACKGROUND

Rose was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1982 murder of Robert "Butch" Richardson. We previously summarized the pertinent facts of the crime as follows:

At approximately 10 p.m. on October 18, 1982, several witnesses were talking together outside one of their residences. Testimony at trial revealed that they saw two men walking down the street. Subsequently they heard the sound of breaking glass and saw that one of the men, later identified as Robert C. Richardson, was lying on the ground. The other man, identified by witnesses as Milo Rose, appellant, was standing over him. Evidence shows that appellant then walked to a nearby vacant lot, picked up a concrete block, and returned to the man on the ground. Appellant raised the block over his head and hurled it down on Richardson's head. He picked up the block and hurled it down a total of five or six times. The area where the incident occurred was *631 well lighted, so the witnesses were able to see the man with the concrete block clearly.
Appellant was living with Mrs. Richardson, the victim's mother, at the time. Two other acquaintances were staying with them. On the night of the incident, these two acquaintances left an apartment which was in the vicinity where the killing occurred and found appellant hitchhiking on a nearby street. Appellant got into their truck and stated several times that he had just killed Richardson. Appellant was later found in Mrs. Richardson's house and was arrested.

Rose v. State, 472 So.2d 1155, 1156-57 (Fla.1985) ("Rose I").

Rose was subsequently tried and convicted of first-degree murder. See id. at 1157. The jury recommended the imposition of the death penalty by a vote of nine to three. In accordance with the jury's recommendation, the trial court imposed the death penalty for Richardson's murder after finding that the applicable statutory aggravating[1] circumstances outweighed the nonstatutory mitigating[2] circumstances. See id. This Court affirmed Rose's conviction and death sentence on direct appeal.[3]See id. at 1159.

The trial court summarily denied most of the claims Rose raised in his first motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850,[4] but ordered an evidentiary hearing *632 on the issue of whether Rose's counsel was ineffective during the penalty phase of the trial. See Rose v. State, 617 So.2d 291, 293 (Fla.1993) ("Rose II"), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 903, 114 S.Ct. 279, 126 L.Ed.2d 230 (1993). After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied Rose relief and this Court subsequently affirmed the denial. See id. at 298. Rose filed a second motion to vacate judgment and sentence pursuant to rule 3.850 on December 23, 1996.[5] After conducting a Huff[6] hearing, the trial court summarily denied relief and Rose filed the present appeal raising eight claims.[7]

In this appeal, this Court must determine whether the trial court properly denied Rose's successive postconviction motion without an evidentiary hearing. Because the trial court did not hold an evidentiary hearing, this Court must accept Rose's factual allegations as true to the extent they are not refuted by the record. See Gaskin v. State, 737 So.2d 509, 516 (Fla.1999); Valle v. State, 705 So.2d 1331, 1333 (Fla.1997); Lightbourne v. Dugger, 549 So.2d 1364, 1365 (Fla.1989).

BRADY and GIGLIO CLAIMS

Rose contends that the State failed to disclose exculpatory evidence that he could have used to impeach the credibility of two state witnesses, Becky Borton and Mark Poole, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Additionally, Rose contends that the State violated Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972), by intentionally misleading the defense and the jury about the motives of Borton and Poole for testifying against Rose. We address the claims seriatim.

At Rose's 1983 murder trial, both Borton and Pool, neighbors of Rose, testified against him. Borton and Pool testified that they saw Rose hitchhiking near the vicinity of the murder scene on the evening of Richardson's murder and agreed to give Rose a ride home. Borton and Poole testified that during the ride home, Rose *633 had blood on his person and confessed to killing Richardson.

Rose contends that in a case unrelated to Rose's murder case, the State charged Borton and Poole with possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana, despite the fact that laboratory analysis demonstrated that they possessed a felony amount of marijuana. According to Rose, the State agreed to charge Borton and Poole with a lesser marijuana possession charge in exchange for their testimony against Rose in his murder trial. Rose claims that this information, which Rose could have used to impeach Borton and Poole, constituted Brady material and that this non-disclosure resulted in prejudice.

In addition, Rose alleges that the State violated Giglio by intentionally misleading the defense regarding Borton and Poole's alleged "deal" with the State. In particular, Rose asserts that during the defense's questioning of Borton at a pretrial deposition pertaining to Rose's murder case, Borton informed defense counsel that she had previously been convicted of possessing marijuana. Thereafter, the assistant state attorney told Rose's attorney: "To prevent any problem later on, why don't you ask if the marijuana charge was a felony or a misdemeanor?" Defense counsel proceeded to ask Borton about the prior marijuana conviction and Borton replied that she had been convicted of a "misdemeanor" marijuana possession offense. Rose argues that the assistant state attorney told his attorney to ask whether the drug offense was a misdemeanor or a felony in an attempt to avoid having Rose's attorney discover the "deal" between the State and Borton. Furthermore, Rose asserts that the State intentionally misled jurors about the motives of Borton and Poole for testifying against Rose by stating in closing argument that no witnesses presented by the State had any more interest in testifying against Rose "than that of a normal citizen."

In response to Rose's allegations, the State argued at the Huff hearing and argues again here on appeal that no such "deal" ever existed between the State and Borton or Poole.

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Bluebook (online)
774 So. 2d 629, 2000 WL 1508576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rose-v-state-fla-2000.