Rose v. State

985 So. 2d 500, 2008 WL 658243
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMarch 13, 2008
DocketSC06-473
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 985 So. 2d 500 (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, 985 So. 2d 500, 2008 WL 658243 (Fla. 2008).

Opinion

985 So.2d 500 (2008)

James Franklin ROSE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. SC06-473.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 13, 2008.
Rehearing Denied June 26, 2008.

*501 Steven J. Hammer of the Law office of Steven J. Hammer, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, and Leslie T. Campbell, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

James Franklin Rose appeals an order of the circuit court denying his motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the trial court's decision denying relief.

FACTS

We set out the underlying facts supporting Rose's convictions in Rose v. State (Rose I), 425 So.2d 521, 522-23 (Fla.1982). The procedural history in this case is set forth in Rose v. State (Rose II), 787 So.2d 786 (Fla.2001):

James Franklin Rose was indicted for the kidnapping and first-degree murder of eight-year-old Lisa Berry in November 1976. Rose's first trial resulted in a mistrial because the jury could not reach a verdict. On retrial, he was convicted of both counts and sentenced to life on the kidnapping count and death on the murder count. This Court affirmed both of his convictions but vacated the death sentence. See Rose v. State, 425 So.2d 521 (Fla.1982). The Court found the trial court erred during the penalty phase in giving an improper "dynamite" or "Allen charge" after the jury sent the following note to the judge: "We are tied six to six, and no one will change their mind at the moment. Please instruct us." We held that the trial court erred in failing to recognize that where seven jurors fail to vote to recommend *502 death, the jury recommendation is for life. The case was remanded for a resentencing. See id. at 525.
At resentencing the new jury recommended a death sentence by a vote of eleven to one, and the trial court sentenced Rose to death. This Court affirmed the sentence. See Rose v. State, 461 So.2d 84 (Fla.1984). Following the Governor's subsequent issuance of a death warrant, Rose petitioned this Court for a writ of habeas corpus and a motion to stay his execution, asserting, among others, claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. This Court denied relief. See Rose v. Dugger, 508 So.2d 321 (Fla.1987). Thereafter, Rose filed a motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel at both the guilt and penalty phases of his trial. The trial court summarily denied the motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing but this Court reversed, and directed the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing. See Rose v. State, 601 So.2d 1181 (Fla.1992).
After holding an evidentiary hearing, the trial court again denied all relief. Thereafter, this Court affirmed the trial court's denial of the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt phase. See Rose v. State, 675 So.2d 567 (Fla. 1996); however, we reversed the trial court's ruling with regard to the penalty phase ineffectiveness of counsel and remanded for a new sentencing. See id. at 569. Pursuant to this Court's reversal, a new jury was selected and penalty phase proceedings were held. At the close of this latest penalty phase, the jury recommended death by a vote of nine to three.... On February 13, 1998, the trial court sentenced Rose to death.

Id. at 789-90 (footnotes omitted). The trial court properly found four statutory aggravators: (1) Rose was on parole; (2) Rose had prior violent felony convictions; (3) the murder was committed during a kidnapping; and (4) the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC). Id. at 804. No statutory mitigators were found. Id. The court gave "some weight" to the following three nonstatutory mitigators: (a) that the defendant had a non-nurturing childhood, (b) good employment history, and (c) good characteristics. "Little weight" was given to the following three nonstatutory mitigators: (i) that defendant had below average intelligence, (ii) was a good person adapted to prison life, and (iii) had performed good deeds. Id. Finally, "very little weight" was given to Rose's cooperation and maintaining his innocence. Rose appealed his death sentence to this Court raising seventeen issues for review. Id. at 790 n. 3.[1] However, we rejected *503 Rose's claims and affirmed the judgment and imposition of the death sentence. Id. at 806.

Thereafter, in a timely postconviction motion filed in the trial court, Rose alleged eight grounds for relief: (1) defense counsel's failure to obtain a ruling on a Richardson[2] inquiry denied Rose effective assistance of counsel; (2) defense counsel was ineffective for failing to correct a member of the venire, who stated, "Well, is the case going to be explained to us? I mean, why he was sentenced?;" (3) defense counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the State's comment in opening statement that Rose had invoked his right to remain silent once police questioning became more accusatory; (4) defense counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the State's comment in closing argument that Rose's time-line defense was a "smokescreen"; (5) Rose's death sentence is unconstitutional because a judge, instead of a jury, determined the aggravating circumstances and imposed death in violation of the United States Constitution; (6) death is not a permissible punishment because the State failed to properly charge Rose with a death-eligible offense; (7) the court should enter a sentence of life imprisonment because a death sentence is unconstitutional; and (8) defense counsel failed to investigate DNA evidence and was ineffective during the penalty phase for failing to seek DNA testing.[3] After holding a hearing in accordance with Huff v. State, 622 So.2d 982 (Fla.1993), the trial court summarily denied all relief. This appeal follows.

RULE 3.851

Initially, Rose argues that the trial court failed to properly attach any record or transcript from the resentencing court other than the original indictment and the sentencing order. He argues that rule 3.850(d) requires the court to attach "a copy of that portion of the files and records that conclusively shows that the movant is entitled to no relief." Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850(d).

First, we note that rule 3.851, the postconviction rule for capital cases, not rule 3.850, applies to Rose since his postconviction motion was filed after October 1, 2001, the effective date of the rule. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.851(a). Nevertheless, this Court has continued to follow the same general postconviction rule under rule 3.851, which we stated in Nixon v. State, 932 So.2d 1009, 1018 (Fla.2006), "In order to support summary denial, the trial court must either state its rationale in the order denying relief or attach portions of the record that would refute the claims." We find that in denying Rose's motion for postconviction relief, the trial court complied with this rule by either stating its rationale or referencing the State's reasoning and record citations.

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Bluebook (online)
985 So. 2d 500, 2008 WL 658243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rose-v-state-fla-2008.