White v. State

729 So. 2d 909, 1999 WL 125503
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMarch 11, 1999
Docket88,686
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 729 So. 2d 909 (White 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
White v. State, 729 So. 2d 909, 1999 WL 125503 (Fla. 1999).

Opinion

729 So.2d 909 (1999)

William M. WHITE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 88,686.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 11, 1999.
Rehearing Denied April 19, 1999.

*910 Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Steven H. Malone, Assistant Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, Florida, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Katherine V. Blanco, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, Florida, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

William White appeals the trial court's order denying his motion to vacate judgment and sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm the trial court's order as it relates to appellant's conviction; however, based on Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987), we vacate appellant's death sentence and remand for a new sentencing proceeding before a jury. This proceeding is to begin within 120 days of this decision becoming final. Any postponement must be granted by the Chief Justice of this Court.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant was convicted of the first-degree murder of Gracie Mae Crawford. The facts of the crime are detailed in our opinion on direct appeal.

White was a member of a Kentucky chapter of the Outlaws, a motorcycle gang, but was visiting the Orlando chapter. A group of the Outlaws, accompanied by some girl friends, visited an Orlando nightclub where they met Gracie Mae Crawford. Gracie Mae accompanied some of the Outlaws back to their Orlando clubhouse. Soon after returning to the clubhouse, White retired to a bedroom with his girl friend. Sometime thereafter White was called by Richard DiMarino who stated that Crawford liked blacks and that they had to teach her a lesson. White dressed and went into the kitchen area where he joined DiMarino and Guy Ennis Smith in severely beating Crawford. Whether DiMarino or White led the assault is unclear, but one witness testified of White's hitting Crawford with his fist and knocking her to the floor. After the beating, DiMarino and White placed Crawford in the middle of the front seat of White's girl friend's car. White started driving but along the way stopped the car and DiMarino drove the car to the end of a deserted road. (The victim, White and DiMarino had done a lot of drinking that evening, but White's girl friend testified that he knew what he was doing.) After they stopped the car, DiMarino and White pulled Crawford from the car, passed her over a barbed wire fence, and laid her on the ground. White then straddled her, took out his knife, stabbed her fourteen times and slit her throat. He handed the knife to DiMarino who also cut her throat. Crawford died as a result of the wounds inflicted upon her.
While leaving the area White and DiMarino ran out of gas at the Seaworld parking lot and were later identified by Seaworld security guards who had given them gas. White and DiMarino went back and picked up the body of the deceased and thereafter discarded it at a different place. The body was discovered that afternoon.

*911 White v. State, 415 So.2d 719, 719-20 (Fla. 1982). After a penalty phase proceeding in which defense counsel proffered no witnesses or evidence, the advisory jury unanimously recommended that appellant be sentenced to death. The trial court, finding that the three aggravating circumstances[1] outweighed the sole statutory mitigating circumstance,[2] sentenced appellant to death in accordance with the unanimous jury recommendation. We affirmed the conviction and sentence. Id. at 719-21. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review on November 29, 1982. See White v. Florida, 459 U.S. 1055, 103 S.Ct. 474, 74 L.Ed.2d 622 (1982).

Appellant filed this initial rule 3.850 motion in 1983. In 1987, while appellant's rule 3.850 motion was pending, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). Hitchcock held that a Florida jury charge which precluded the trial court and the advisory jury from considering nonstatutory mitigation was unconstitutional. Appellant subsequently filed a petition for habeas relief based on Hitchcock. The trial court stayed further proceedings in this postconviction motion until final disposition of the habeas petition. We rejected appellant's claim for relief, concluding that "[t]he charge which may have limited the jury to a consideration of statutory mitigating circumstance was clearly harmless." White v. Dugger, 523 So.2d 140, 141 (Fla.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871, 109 S.Ct. 184, 102 L.Ed.2d 153 (1988). The trial court subsequently held an evidentiary hearing on most of appellant's claims and denied relief on all claims by order dated April 16, 1996. See State v. White, No. CR78-1840, order at 6 (Fla.Cir.Ct. Apr. 16, 1996) (hereinafter Order). In this appeal, appellant raises eight issues.[3] We reject as without merit issues four and eight.[4]

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

A. Ineffective Assistance of Guilt-Phase Counsel

Appellant argues that he was denied effective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase of his trial. To warrant relief under an ineffective assistance claim, appellant carries the heavy burden of establishing a deficient performance and a reasonable probability that the outcome of the proceeding would have been different absent the deficient performance. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Appellant argues he *912 received ineffective assistance of counsel during the guilt phase of his trial because his lawyer: (1) failed to object when the State amended its statement of particulars midway through the trial; (2) failed to pursue an intoxication defense; (3) failed to obtain a ruling on his objection to collateral bad act testimony; and (4) failed to object to bad character evidence and evidence creating sympathy for the victim. The trial court below addressed ineffectiveness only as to a few claims. The court did, however, find as to all claims regarding guilt phase counsel that appellant failed to establish prejudice. Order at 6.

In examining counsel's performance, courts are required to make every effort to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight by evaluating the performance from counsel's perspective at the time and indulge a strong presumption that counsel has rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment. Blanco v. Wainwright, 507 So.2d 1377, 1381 (Fla.1987). After carefully reviewing the trial record, the record of the evidentiary hearing and the arguments made here, we conclude that the defendant failed to establish that his lawyer's performance was constitutionally deficient.

Failing to object when the State moved to amend its statement of particulars does not constitute deficient performance because the amendment did not prejudice the defendant. See Stang v. State, 421 So.2d 147, 149 (Fla.1982) (amendments to statement of particulars is allowable if it does not prejudice defendant).

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729 So. 2d 909, 1999 WL 125503, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-fla-1999.