Supreme Court of Florida
____________
No. SC16-289
____________
ROBERT EARL PETERSON,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
____________
No. SC16-1279
____________
ROBERT EARL PETERSON,
Petitioner,
vs.
JULIE L. JONES, etc.,
Respondent.
[July 6, 2017]
PER CURIAM.
Robert Earl Peterson appeals an order of the circuit court denying his motion
to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death filed under
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851 and petitions this Court for a writ of
habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. For the
reasons explained below, we affirm the postconviction court’s order denying post-
conviction relief as to the guilt phase and also deny Peterson’s separate habeas
petition. However, because Peterson’s jury recommended death by a vote of seven
to five and his sentence became final in 2012, see Peterson v. State, 94 So. 3d 514,
523 (Fla.), cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 793 (2012), Peterson is entitled to a new penalty
phase under Hurst v. State (Hurst), 202 So. 3d 40 (Fla. 2016), cert. denied, No. 16-
998 (U.S. May 22, 2017). See Mosley v. State, 209 So. 3d 1248, 1283 (Fla. 2016).
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder and evidence tampering, and
was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of his 64-year-old stepfather,
Roy Andrews, after Peterson’s jury recommended death by a vote of seven to five.
Peterson, 94 So. 3d at 519, 523. The facts of Peterson’s crime are set forth in this
Court’s opinion affirming his conviction and sentences on direct appeal:
Peterson, who was 41 at the time of the crime, had been living
at home with his mother and his stepfather. Andrews had been
Peterson’s stepfather since Peterson was fifteen. Shortly before the
murder, Peterson’s mother, at the urging of Andrews, told Peterson he
had to move out. Also at Andrews’ insistence, Peterson’s mother
stopped providing Peterson with money. Andrews was beaten and
shot twice in Jacksonville, Florida, with his body left in the
Greenlawn Cemetery very close to where Peterson’s ex-girlfriend was
buried.
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Guilt Phase Evidence
The State first presented evidence to establish that about a
month before the murder, Peterson told several people that he was
going to kill Andrews. In early July 2005, Peterson talked to Becky
Price, his second cousin, and told her that Andrews had “kicked him
out” and told his mother not to give him more money. Peterson
informed Price that he was going to kill Andrews. About two weeks
later, after his mother refused to give him money again based on
Andrews’ direction, Peterson told Price a second time that he was
going to kill Andrews. While the statements scared her, Price did not
take him seriously and did not warn anyone. At the beginning of July,
Peterson told his aunt that Andrews called his mother fat and that this
made him “want to jump across the table and beat him to death.”
On August 7, 2005, Peterson was staying at a hotel, the Masters
Inn, with his girlfriend, Clara Keene. At 6:01 a.m. on August 8, the
security cameras at his hotel showed Peterson leaving his room
wearing jeans, shoes, a jacket, and a dark hat with a design on it.
At the time of the murder, Andrews was a counselor at a local
drug clinic, Jacksonville Metro Treatment Center, and generally
worked from 5:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. On August 8, 2005, Andrews
arrived at 4:45 a.m. but left early at 9:30 a.m. Between 9 and 10 that
morning, two people who worked close to Greenlawn Cemetery heard
two loud pops that sounded like gun fire and then saw an older green
pick-up truck with faded paint and big tires [N.1] leaving the cemetery
very quickly.
[N.1] Peterson’s girlfriend, Keene, had a truck that
matched this description. On the night before the
murder, she had given Peterson the keys to the truck and
left it at the work place of Peterson’s brother, since she
and Peterson went to the hotel together in his vehicle.
She never saw her truck after that evening.
Andrews’ body was found shortly after his murder. He was
lying on the ground in a pool of blood, relatively close to the grave of
Peterson’s ex-girlfriend who had died about a year earlier. Near the
body, law enforcement found a dark “Bike Week” baseball cap, which
matched the hat that Peterson wore when he left the hotel room that
morning. Andrews’ truck was nearby, with the keys in the truck, the
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passenger door opened, and the hood of the truck released but not
fully opened. Andrews’ wallet was still in his pocket, and he had a
considerable amount of money in his pocket. Andrews had been
beaten around the head and shot in the head twice.
Around 10:30 a.m. that same day, Peterson called Keene at the
hotel and asked her to let him into their room because he forgot his
key. The video surveillance cameras showed Keene opening the door
for Peterson. In the video, Peterson was dressed in different clothes
from those he had worn when he left the hotel a few hours earlier: he
was wearing a different shirt and not wearing an undershirt, shoes, or
his hat. According to Keene, Peterson was upset and told her they
needed to go to his mother’s house.
A few days after the murder, the police arrested one of
Peterson’s acquaintances, Jimmie Jackson, for driving on a suspended
license. While Jackson was in custody, he agreed to call Peterson to
ask about the murder. During their initial conversations, Peterson
made a number of incriminating statements, implying that he had
killed Andrews as he had planned. Jackson set up a meeting with
Peterson, agreeing to meet him in a parking lot. Peterson drove up in
his vehicle at the designated time and then entered Jackson’s truck,
which the police had wired.
During their conversation, Peterson admitted to killing
Andrews and provided numerous details about the crime, including
that he killed Andrews in broad daylight at 9:45 in the morning.
Peterson explained that he killed Andrews because Andrews crossed
the line by slapping his mother and calling her names. He then told
Jackson that his mother knew about it because he and his mother were
close and his mother was “contracting it.” Peterson informed Jackson
that even though the police took his red truck, he was not in that
vehicle during the crime. He bragged that the vehicle he did use was
“crushed and gone” on the same day as the crime. He then described
the murder in detail, explaining that he was walking down Emerson
Road, as though his truck had broken down, and Andrews picked him
up and took him to the cemetery. Peterson described the crime as
follows:
PETERSON: No, I busted his ass with brass
knuckles. I tried to beat him to death so’s I could take him
somewhere else.
[JACKSON]: Oh, oh, oh, oh.
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PETERSON: The bitch wouldn’t fucking—I done
broke his jaw, knocked all his teeth out, his eye ball
hanging out his fucking head, the bitch wouldn’t go out, so
I had to go pop pop and haul ass. By that time, I’m
covered from head to toe—
[JACKSON]: Blood.
PETERSON: So I hauled ass out way out to the
west—
[JACKSON]: Yeah.
PETERSON: Hauled ass out to the fucking—got
brain matter, the whole fucking nine yards. I went out to
fucking Baldwin, stripped down, took a shower, scrubbed
myself with a brush, got dressed, come back, still hit the
cameras . . . .
....
PETERSON: Set all my clothes, all my clothes, the
vehicle I was driving, and the gun, you’ll never find it. I
don’t give a fuck who you are. You can be Inspector
[Clouseau], you ain’t finding this shit. Drove back, and
the man that I was working for says I was there from 9:00
to 11:00 and from 11:00 to 12:00. I eat lunch and from
12:00 to 1:00. I was sitting at my mama’s house when
they came and informed us he got killed.
Peterson next discussed his former girlfriend, who was buried in
Greenlawn Cemetery, telling Jackson that Andrews “landed on her
grave.” Peterson also admitted that he made mistakes regarding some
aspects of the plan because during the crime, there was a struggle and
Peterson lost his hat and left some fingerprints in the truck. [N.2] He
planned to explain this evidence by saying that he left his fingerprints
when he was with Andrews the night before and Andrews had a nose
bleed.
[N.2] The police were unable to obtain any usable
fingerprints from the truck.
Dr. Jesse Giles, the medical examiner, testified that Andrews
had a significant number of blunt force injuries spread over his head
and neck that were consistent with brass knuckles and that occurred
shortly before the time of death. Andrews’ cause of death was two
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contact gunshot wounds, where the gun was pressed against the
victim’s head. One gunshot wound was at Andrews’ left temple. The
other wound entered over Andrews’ right ear, and the bone fragments
from this wound severed the brain stem, which was fatal.
After the State rested, Peterson testified in his defense, denying
that he killed Andrews. Peterson testified that he had visited Bike
Week one time, and while there, he bought about four Bike Week
hats. According to Peterson, on the day before the murder, he went to
his mother’s house to buy lottery tickets for her and saw Andrews
sitting in his truck. Andrews had a trickle of blood coming from his
nose, so Peterson helped wipe it away. He then left and bought the
tickets as he planned to do. When he brought the tickets back to his
mother’s house, he noticed the interior light of the truck was on, so he
reached into Andrews’ truck and turned off the light, knocking off his
hat. He did not reach down to retrieve his hat because he was in a
hurry to return to his hotel room with his girlfriend.
Peterson further testified that on the day that Andrews was
killed, he got up at 5:30 that morning and wore a jacket because it was
very cold in the hotel room. He spent the morning on various errands
and went to his mother’s house. Around 9 a.m., Peterson began to
work on a siding project near his mother’s house. Shortly after he
began, he realized that his phone was missing, so he left to find it.
Peterson explained that the reason he was dressed differently when he
arrived at his hotel room late that morning was because he had taken
off his hat and left it at his mother’s house, along with his warmer
clothes. He also was not wearing shoes because his shoes got dirty
when he walked through a yard during the siding project.
In explaining the incriminating statements that he made to
Jackson, Peterson testified that near the time of the murder, he had a
drug deal going on with Jackson, where he had “invested” $10,000 so
that Jackson could sell the drugs and he could make a $4,000 profit.
In an attempt to get his money back, he made up a story that he beat
his stepfather so badly that he knocked out his eyeball and all of his
teeth—something that was not even accurate as to Andrews’ actual
injuries.
In his defense, Peterson also called Joel Sockwell, who testified
that he lived near Peterson’s mother’s house. On the day of the
murder, Sockwell went to work, but left around 9 a.m. and saw
Peterson in the neighborhood while he was out on the patio.
However, Sockwell was not certain about the times.
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The jury found Peterson guilty of first-degree murder and
tampering with evidence.
Id. at 519-22.
During the penalty phase, the State presented four victim impact statements
and relied upon the evidence already presented to establish the aggravating factors.
Id. at 522. This Court summarized the evidence presented by Peterson during the
penalty phase as follows:
The defense presented numerous witnesses, most of whom lost
contact with Peterson in recent years but testified that years ago,
Peterson was a good worker and friend. Many of the witnesses who
testified on Peterson’s behalf knew of Peterson’s involvement at the
raceway where Peterson raced cars. For example, David Bradshaw
testified that he had known Peterson since 1986, when they raced
together. According to Bradshaw, during that time, Andrews and
Peterson got along well and worked on cars together. However,
Bradshaw did not have regular contact with Peterson during the last
five years. During this period of time, Peterson was married, but he
and his wife eventually divorced. A few witnesses testified that they
speculated that Peterson might have become addicted to drugs after
the divorce, but never actually witnessed Peterson use any illegal
substances.
In addition, Peterson presented testimony to establish that he
had not received any disciplinary reports since he was in jail.
Peterson also called his aunt, Laverne Rundall, who testified that she
likewise had once contemplated whether Peterson was under the
influence of drugs when she saw Peterson outside of Andrews’ office
at the Jacksonville Metro Treatment Center and did not recognize him
because he was so scruffy and skinny. She asserted that Andrews and
Peterson had a good relationship until recently, when they argued
about money. On cross-examination, she asserted that Peterson
obtained his truck and most of his money through his mother and
Andrews.
Peterson’s mother, Patricia Andrews, also testified on his
behalf, asserting that Peterson and Andrews were very close and
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previously were involved in racing together. At the time of the
murder, Andrews had been Peterson’s stepfather for about eighteen
years. According to Patricia, Peterson supported her significantly
since she has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and also provided
a tremendous amount of support to Andrews when he was undergoing
cancer treatment. They paid him for his help, including paying his
child support and his truck insurance in exchange for his assistance.
Andrews invited Peterson to live with them and told Peterson that if
he was not working, they would find things for him to do around the
house. On cross-examination, she admitted that Andrews recently had
changed the arrangement, so that Peterson could not obtain money
from one person without telling the other person. They tried to talk to
Peterson about obtaining a better job.
Id. at 522-23.
The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of seven to five for the
murder of Andrews. Id. at 523. Following the jury’s recommendation, the trial
court found three aggravating factors: (1) the murder was cold, calculated, and
premediated (CCP); (2) the murder was heinous, atrocious, or cruel (HAC); and (3)
the murder was committed for pecuniary gain. Id. Peterson did not offer any
statutory mitigation, and none was found. The court found two nonstatutory
mitigating circumstances: (1) Peterson had a history of drug abuse, and (2)
Peterson had numerous positive qualities. Id. The trial court “sentenced Peterson
to death, concluding that ‘[t]he three weighty aggravators, when weighed against
the two non-statutory mitigators, which were assigned only at best slight weight,
support a death sentence.’ ” Id.
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On direct appeal, Peterson raised eight claims: (1) the trial court erred in
admitting a statement that could imply Peterson committed a prior murder; (2) the
trial court erred in permitting the State to present certain victim impact evidence;
(3) the trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress the statements that
Peterson made to Jackson; (4) the trial court erred in finding the CCP aggravating
factor; (5) the trial court erred in finding that the murder was committed for
pecuniary gain; (6) the trial court erred in giving little weight to the evidence
pertaining to Peterson’s cocaine addiction; (7) the death sentence is
disproportionate; and (8) this Court should reconsider whether Florida’s death
penalty scheme is unconstitutional under Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002).
Peterson, 94 So. 3d at 523. We unanimously affirmed Peterson’s convictions, id.
at 538, and Peterson’s sentence became final in 2012.1 Id. at 514.
On November 13, 2013, Peterson filed an initial motion for postconviction
relief, pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. Peterson’s motion
for postconviction relief raised the following ten claims: (1) Peterson’s due process
rights were violated when counsel lost or destroyed records; (2) ineffective
assistance of counsel; (3) Peterson was denied his constitutional rights and the
1. Justice Pariente, joined by Chief Justice Labarga and Justice Perry,
dissented as to the sentence because none of the aggravators were unanimously
found by the jury, relying on Ring, 536 U.S. 584. Peterson, 94 So. 3d at 538
(Pariente, J., concurring as to conviction and dissenting as to sentence).
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effective assistance of counsel under the rules prohibiting Peterson’s lawyers from
interviewing jurors; (4) the State improperly withheld material evidence in
violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963); (5) Peterson was denied his
right to effective mental health assistance of a mental health expert as required by
Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68 (1985); (6) Florida’s capital sentencing scheme is
unconstitutional because it allows trial court judges unfettered discretion to assign
weights to mitigating and aggravating factors without providing a baseline for their
discretion; (7) Duval County prosecutor’s discretionary use of the death penalty is
arbitrary and thus violates the Eighth Amendment as announced in Furman v.
Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972); (8) Florida’s use of the death penalty violates the
Eighth Amendment’s evolving standards of decency because juries are not
required to issue a unanimous death sentence and Florida still adheres to a widely
criticized practice of allowing a judge to override a jury’s life verdict; (9) the
cumulative prejudice resultant from numerous instances of counsel’s deficient
performance resulted in an unfair trial; and (10) Peterson is innocent of first-degree
murder.
After a four-part evidentiary hearing on claims 1, 2, and 4, the
postconviction court denied Peterson’s motion. Peterson appeals the denial of his
motion, contending the postconviction court erred by: (1) denying Peterson’s
motion to recuse or disqualify the postconviction judge; (2) denying Peterson’s
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motion to exclude the testimony of the State’s expert, Dr. Alan J. Waldman; (3)
denying Peterson’s claim that his due process rights were violated when trial
counsel lost or destroyed Peterson’s trial records; (4) determining that trial counsel
was not ineffective in the guilt and penalty phases in failing to establish an
attorney-client relationship and in failing to investigate and present experts and lay
witnesses to demonstrate substantial mitigation; and (5) denying Peterson’s motion
to appoint Dr. Morton, violating Peterson’s due process rights. Peterson also
argues that Hurst v. Florida (Hurst v. Florida), 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), applies to his
case. Additionally, Peterson raises a claim, without briefing, that the
postconviction court’s order was erroneous for thirteen other reasons, which we
summarily deny.2 Peterson has also filed a separate petition for habeas corpus.
We affirm the denial of relief as to Peterson’s ineffective assistance of guilt
phase counsel claim, but because we conclude that Peterson is entitled to a new
penalty phase proceeding under Hurst, we decline to address his other penalty
2. We once again repeat that this Court deems waived arguments made
without briefing. See Barwick v. State, 88 So. 3d 85, 101 (Fla. 2011). As this
Court has explained, “to merely refer to arguments presented during the
postconviction proceedings without further elucidation is not sufficient . . . and
these claims are deemed to have been waived.” Doorbal v. State, 983 So. 2d 464,
482 (Fla. 2008) (citation omitted). This Court has further explained that “[t]he
purpose of a legal brief is to offer argument in support of the issues raised on
appeal.” Bradley v. State, 33 So. 3d 664, 685 (Fla. 2010).
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phase claims.3 Additionally, as we discuss first, we affirm the denial of Peterson’s
motion to recuse or disqualify the postconviction judge.
ANALYSIS
Motion to Recuse or Disqualify Trial Judge in Postconviction Proceedings
At the outset, Peterson contends that the postconviction court erred in
denying his motion to disqualify the trial judge during the postconviction
proceedings.4 “A motion to disqualify is governed substantively by section 38.10,
Florida Statutes [(2014)], and procedurally by Florida Rule of Judicial
Administration 2.330.” Gore v. State, 964 So. 2d 1257, 1268 (Fla. 2007). The
statute requires that the moving party file an affidavit in good faith “stating fear
that he or she will not receive a fair trial . . . on account of the prejudice of the
judge” as well as “the facts and the reasons for the belief that any such bias or
prejudice exists.” § 38.10, Fla. Stat. (2014). “The judge against whom an initial
3. Specifically, because we conclude Peterson is entitled to a new penalty
phase, we do not address his claims that the postconviction court erred in not
excluding the testimony of the State’s expert, neuropsychiatrist Dr. Alan J.
Waldman, or erred in denying Peterson’s motion to appoint Dr. William A.
Morton, a psychopharmacolgist, as both experts either testified or would have
testified as to the ineffectiveness of penalty phase counsel.
4. On April 23, 2014, Peterson filed a petition for writ of prohibition
seeking to disqualify the trial judge on the same basis he raises on appeal. On May
22, 2014, this Court unanimously denied the petition without prejudice to raise the
issue on appeal. Peterson v. State, 145 So. 3d 827 (Fla. 2014) (table).
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motion to disqualify . . . is directed shall determine only the legal sufficiency of the
motion and shall not pass on the truth of the facts alleged.” Fla. R. Jud. Admin.
2.330(f). A trial judge’s ruling on a motion to disqualify “may be assigned as error
and may be reviewed as are other rulings of the trial court.” § 38.10, Fla. Stat.
(2014).
Peterson’s motion alleged that the trial judge improperly made comments
regarding the efficacy of mitigation coordinators in other cases, including a case
where the mitigation coordinator—Sarah Flynn—was the same mitigation
coordinator appointed to Peterson’s case during postconviction proceedings.
These comments, Peterson contends, displayed a bias against mitigation
coordinators that created a belief that he would not receive a fair postconviction
hearing because the postconviction court would “not neutrally consider mitigation
that is offered through a mitigation coordinator.” Peterson’s motion does not
allege that the trial judge made any statements in this case regarding mitigation
coordinators, and in fact, the trial judge appointed a mitigation coordinator in
Peterson’s postconviction proceedings below.
We conclude that not only was the motion to disqualify or recuse legally
insufficient, but the order denying the motion did not impermissibly exceed the
scope of the inquiry by passing on the truth of the facts alleged. As this Court
explained in Bundy v. Rudd, 366 So. 2d 440 (Fla. 1978), “[w]hen a judge has
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looked beyond the mere legal sufficiency of a suggestion of prejudice and
attempted to refute the charges of partiality, he has then exceeded the proper scope
of his inquiry and on that basis alone established grounds for his disqualification.”
Id. at 442.
This Court has previously considered whether the denial of a motion to
recuse or disqualify a trial judge has exceeded the proper scope of the inquiry by
considering whether the order “passed on the truth of the facts alleged and
adjudicated the question of his disqualification.” Cave v. State, 660 So. 2d 705,
708 (Fla. 1995) (emphasis added). We conclude that the postconviction judge’s
denial of Peterson’s motion to recuse or disqualify in this case did not “pass[] on
the truth of the facts alleged and adjudicate[] the question of his disqualification.”
Id. Rather, the order denied Peterson’s motion as legally insufficient because the
facts alleged—that the postconviction court had made prior written statements in
other cases regarding the use of mitigation specialists—would not “place a
reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial.”
Livingston v. State, 441 So. 2d 1083, 1087 (Fla. 1983). In short, the order only
stated the basis for the legal insufficiency of the motion and went no further.
Accordingly, we deny this claim.
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Lost or Destroyed Trial Records
Peterson alleges that his due process rights under the Fifth, Sixth, and
Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were violated when trial
counsel Fletcher “lost or destroyed” Peterson’s trial records. This error, Peterson
asserts, prohibited counsel from adequately investigating and pleading claims of
ineffectiveness. Intertwined with this claim is Peterson’s contention that a conflict
of interest existed between him and trial counsel Fletcher due to Fletcher’s
burdensome caseload and what Peterson describes as a “severely strained attorney-
client relationship between Peterson and Fletcher.”
We “review for the circuit court’s denial of this claim [for] abuse of
discretion.” Jones v. State, 928 So. 2d 1178, 1192 (Fla. 2006) (citing Parker v.
State, 904 So. 2d 370, 379 (Fla. 2005)). However, “[t]he law is scarce on [the]
issue” of whether the loss or destruction of trial counsel’s trial records hindered
appellate counsel’s investigation and, therefore, violated the postconviction
defendant’s due process rights. Id. We explained in Jones that “the Eleventh
Circuit has stated that ‘[w]hen a defendant asserts prejudice because of the loss of
evidence, he must show that the loss impaired his ability to provide a meaningful
defense.’ ” Id. at 1192-93 (quoting United States v. Solomon, 686 F.2d 863, 872
(11th Cir. 1982)). In denying Peterson’s claim, the postconviction court found as
follows:
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Fletcher denied destroying any of Defendant’s case files. Fletcher
instead testified that, in response to the Defendant’s complaints
regarding Fletcher at sentencing and Defendant’s request that
someone else hold onto the files, Fletcher packed Defendant’s records
in ten or eleven boxes and delivered them to Nolan at the [Regional
Collateral Counsel] office. Fletcher specifically recalled loading the
boxes “into the back of [his] green [SUV]” and taking them over to
Nolan’s office. Fletcher also vehemently denied commenting on
Defendant’s guilt or intentionally providing ineffective assistance of
counsel. The Court finds Fletcher’s testimony worthy of belief. See
Foster v. State, 929 So. 2d 524, 537 (Fla. 2006) (“[T]he trial court has
‘the superior vantage point to see and hear the witnesses and judge
their credibility.’ ”). Further, the Court must note that before
Defendant’s case was “closed out,” [Regional Collateral Counsel]
moved the location of its office and had to transport all of their files to
the new location.
(Record citations omitted.)
We agree with the postconviction court that Peterson cannot demonstrate
that the absence of these eleven trial box records, which Fletcher testified
contained “supplemental” files that were mostly duplicative of records that could
be reproduced, such as general police records, violated his due process rights. This
Court previously considered whether the loss of “trial counsel’s personal notes of
any interviews he had with [his client], [the client’s] relatives, or other witnesses,
as well as phone messages and impressions and theories of the case” hindered
“collateral counsel’s investigation.” Jones, 928 So. 2d at 1193. As this Court
explained, “these personal notes and impressions most likely would support the
State’s position by identifying specific reasons for trial counsel’s choice not to call
certain witnesses or pursue various courses of action.” Id. Unlike in Jones, the
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files in this case contained “the State’s discovery exhibits, copies of police reports,
copies of depositions, DVD discs with interview, phone calls . . . probably four
boxes full of case law,” and “reproduction of the same things over and over and
over.”
Additionally, “[Peterson’s] counsel does not identify what records were not
available, or what particular argument he is prevented from making due to a lack of
records.” Asay v. State, 210 So. 3d 1, 29 (Fla. 2016), petition for cert. filed, No.
16-9033 (U.S. Apr. 29, 2017) (rejecting similar claim relating to lost trial records);
see Griffin v. State, 866 So. 2d 1, 21 (Fla. 2003) (holding that defendant who “has
not pointed to any errors that occurred during the portions of the proceedings that
were not transcribed” is not entitled to habeas relief).
Peterson also does not point to any prejudice arising from the lost or
destroyed trial records, presumably because he alleges, relying on United States v.
Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984), that an actual conflict of interest existed between him
and trial counsel Fletcher. In Cronic, the United States Supreme Court held that
the Sixth Amendment requires that the accused have “counsel acting in the role of
an advocate” by requiring defense counsel to put the prosecution’s case to
meaningful adversarial testing. Id. at 656-59. Cronic, thus, “created an exception
to the Strickland [v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984),] standard for ineffective
assistance of counsel and acknowledged that certain circumstances are so
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egregiously prejudicial that ineffective assistance of counsel will be presumed.”
Stano v. Dugger, 921 F.2d 1125, 1152 (11th Cir. 1991) (en banc).
We have explained that the Cronic standard is reserved for when “the
assistance of counsel has been denied entirely or withheld during a critical stage of
the proceeding such that the ‘likelihood that the verdict is unreliable is so high that
a case-by-case inquiry is unnecessary.’ ” Chavez v. State, 12 So. 3d 199, 212 (Fla.
2009) (quoting Mickens v. Taylor, 535 U.S. 162, 166 (2002)). Peterson has
provided little evidence as to how his relationship with Fletcher or Fletcher’s
burdensome caseload demonstrated the high standard of “per se ineffective
assistance” of counsel. Id. at 212-13. Therefore, we reject Peterson’s attempt to
rely on the per se rule from Cronic to avoid establishing prejudice for his claim.
Accordingly, we deny this claim.
Ineffective Assistance of Guilt Phase Counsel
Because Peterson is entitled to a new penalty phase under Hurst, we do not
address whether Peterson’s counsel was ineffective in the penalty phase of his trial.
To determine whether Peterson is entitled to a new guilt phase, however, we
address his claim that guilt phase counsel was deficient in failing to establish an
attorney-client relationship and was operating under an actual conflict of interest.
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Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Strickland, this
Court has explained that for ineffective assistance of counsel claims to be
successful, two requirements must be satisfied:
First, the claimant must identify particular acts or omissions of the
lawyer that are shown to be outside the broad range of reasonably
competent performance under prevailing professional standards.
Second, the clear, substantial deficiency shown must further be
demonstrated to have so affected the fairness and reliability of the
proceeding that confidence in the outcome is undermined.
Schoenwetter v. State, 46 So. 3d 535, 546 (Fla. 2010) (quoting Maxwell v.
Wainwright, 490 So. 2d 927, 932 (Fla. 1986) (citations omitted)).
To establish the deficiency prong under Strickland, the defendant must prove
that counsel’s performance was unreasonable under “prevailing professional
norms.” Morris v. State, 931 So. 2d 821, 828 (Fla. 2006) (quoting Strickland, 466
U.S. at 688). “A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort
be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the
circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from
counsel’s perspective at the time.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689.
As to the prejudice prong of Strickland, this Court has explained:
With respect to those claims alleging ineffective assistance of
counsel specifically during the penalty phase, penalty-phase prejudice
under the Strickland standard is measured by “whether the error of
trial counsel undermines this Court’s confidence in the sentence of
death when viewed in the context of the penalty phase evidence and
the mitigators and aggravators found by the trial court.” Hurst [v.
State, 18 So. 3d 975, 1013 (Fla. 2009)]. Under this standard, a
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defendant is not required “to show ‘that counsel’s deficient conduct
more likely than not altered the outcome’ of his penalty proceeding,
but rather that he establish ‘a probability sufficient to undermine
confidence in [that] outcome.’ ” Porter v. McCollum, 558 U.S. 30, 44
(2009) (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 693-94).
Wheeler v. State, 124 So. 3d 865, 873 (Fla. 2013).
“[T]his Court’s standard of review is two-pronged: (1) this Court must defer
to the [trial] court’s findings on factual issues so long as competent, substantial
evidence supports them; but (2) must review de novo ultimate conclusions on the
deficiency and prejudice prongs.” Everett v. State, 54 So. 3d 464, 472 (Fla. 2010)
(quoting Reed v. State, 875 So. 2d 415, 421-22 (Fla. 2004)). “Thus, under
Strickland, both the performance and prejudice prongs are mixed questions of law
and fact, with deference to be given only to the lower court’s factual findings.”
Eaglin v. State, 176 So. 3d 900, 906 (Fla. 2015) (quoting Stephens v. State, 748 So.
2d 1028, 1033 (Fla. 1999)).
Peterson contends that his trial counsel was per se ineffective because of an
actual conflict of interest and because of counsel’s failure to establish an attorney-
client relationship. Peterson, however, presents little argument for his claim that
counsel was deficient in establishing an attorney-client relationship and operated
under an actual conflict of interest that adversely affected his representation of
Peterson. Peterson’s entire argument on appeal as to this claim is that because
counsel Fletcher represented six other capital defendants during the time he
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represented Peterson, and in one of these cases, the assistant state attorney e-
mailed Fletcher more than a year after Peterson was convicted to suggest that
Fletcher withdraw in the case because of his busy schedule, Peterson was deprived
of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Peterson also does not allege with any
specificity how Fletcher failed to establish an attorney-client relationship with
Peterson except to briefly reference that Fletcher only visited Peterson in jail
intermittently. In short, Peterson has not raised before this Court a specific claim
of deficiency, and instead relies on “speculative allegations of ineffectiveness.”
Miller v. State, 161 So. 3d 354, 368 (Fla. 2015). Moreover, we agree with the
postconviction court’s analysis of Peterson’s subclaim that Peterson has failed to
meet his burden in proving that Fletcher’s workload constituted an actual conflict
of interest that deprived Peterson of his constitutional right to counsel. In fact, as
already discussed, it appears that Peterson is attempting to “rely on the per se rule
from Cronic to avoid establishing prejudice” for his claim. Chavez, 12 So. 3d at
213.
Accordingly, we deny this claim.
Hurst Relief
Peterson contends that he is entitled to relief pursuant to the United States
Supreme Court’s opinion in Hurst v. Florida, which held that Florida’s capital
sentencing scheme is unconstitutional because “[t]he Sixth Amendment requires a
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jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A
jury’s mere recommendation is not enough.” 136 S. Ct. at 619. On remand, this
Court held that a unanimous jury recommendation for death is required before the
trial court may impose a sentence of death. Hurst, 202 So. 3d at 54. Moreover,
this Court held that “in addition to unanimously finding the existence of any
aggravating factor, the jury must also unanimously find that the aggravating factors
are sufficient for the imposition of death and unanimously find that the aggravating
factors outweigh the mitigation before a sentence of death may be considered by
the judge.” Id. We also determined that Hurst error is capable of harmless error
review. Id. at 67.
Hurst applies retroactively to defendants whose sentences became final after
the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Ring. Mosley, 209 So. 3d
at 1283. Thus, Hurst applies retroactively to this case, which became final in 2012.
Accordingly, we must determine whether the Hurst error during Peterson’s
penalty phase proceeding was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. “[I]n the
context of a Hurst v. Florida error, the burden is on the State, as the beneficiary of
the error, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury’s failure to unanimously
find all the facts necessary for imposition of the death penalty did not contribute to
[the] death sentence.” Hurst, 202 So. 3d at 68. As applied to the right to a jury
trial with regard to the facts necessary to impose the death penalty, it must be clear
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beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have unanimously found that
each aggravating factor was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that the
aggravating factors were sufficient to impose death, and that the aggravating
factors outweighed the mitigating circumstances.
We conclude that the State cannot establish that the error in Peterson’s case
was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. In Peterson’s case, the jury did not make
the requisite factual findings and did not unanimously recommend a sentence of
death. Instead, the jury recommended the sentence of death by a vote of seven to
five. Therefore, this Court has no way of knowing if the jury unanimously found
any of the three aggravating factors—CCP, HAC, pecuniary gain—that the
aggravating factors were sufficient to impose a death sentence, or whether the
aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating circumstances. Further, this Court
cannot speculate why the five jurors who voted to recommend a sentence of life
imprisonment determined that a sentence of death was not the appropriate
punishment. Thus, we conclude that the Hurst error in Peterson’s case was not
harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. In doing so, we note that the jury in
Peterson’s case recommended a sentence of death by the same narrow vote that
Timothy Lee Hurst’s jury recommended where the aggravating factors presented
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required a factual determination. See Hurst, 202 So. 3d at 47. Accordingly, we
vacate Peterson’s sentence of death and remand for a new penalty phase.5
HABEAS PETITION
In addition to appealing the denial of his postconviction motion, Peterson
has filed a petition for habeas corpus relief. The petition raises six issues,6 the
majority of which allege ineffectiveness of trial counsel and are therefore not
properly addressed in a habeas petition. See Thompson v. State, 759 So. 2d 650,
668 n.13 (Fla. 2000). Additionally, Peterson’s claim that the trial court violated his
due process rights by appointing trial counsel with a high caseload which
precluded counsel from providing effective representation merely uses “different
grounds to reargue” his postconviction claim that trial counsel operated under an
5. We reject Peterson’s argument that section 775.082(2), Florida Statutes
(2015), entitles him to be resentenced to life imprisonment. See Hurst, 202 So. 3d
at 44, 63-66.
6. Peterson’s six habeas claims are as follows: (1) whether Peterson’s direct
appeal counsel was ineffective for failing to raise a Fourth Amendment claim; (2)
whether Peterson’s trial counsel was ineffective for failing to test and investigate
DNA evidence; (3) whether Peterson’s direct appeal counsel was ineffective in
failing to ensure that the entire record was transcribed; (4) whether trial counsel
was ineffective in failing to challenge the voluntariness of Peterson’s confession;
(5) whether the trial court violated Peterson’s due process rights by appointing trial
counsel with an unrealistically high caseload which prevented trial counsel from
providing effective assistance; and (6) whether trial counsel was ineffective in
failing to challenge the fact that the State’s confidential informant acted outside of
the scope of what is allowed.
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actual conflict of interest, and is therefore “improper.” Breedlove v. Singletary,
595 So. 2d 8, 10 (Fla. 1992). Accordingly, we address only his first and third
habeas claims that pertain to the ineffectiveness of direct appeal counsel.
Peterson claims that his appellate counsel was deficient in failing to raise a
Fourth Amendment violation claim stating that the search of Peterson’s cell phone
violated his Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure.
However, Peterson devotes his argument to alleging ineffectiveness of trial counsel
for not arguing that the search was illegal and moving to suppress the evidence.
Therefore, it would appear that because trial counsel did not move to suppress the
evidence gathered from Peterson’s cell phone, the issue of whether the police
search of Peterson’s cell phone violated the Fourth Amendment was not preserved.
Appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to present arguments
that are unpreserved and procedurally barred. See Nelson v. State, 43 So. 3d 20,
35 (Fla. 2010). “The only exception to this is when the claim involves
fundamental error,” which Peterson has not alleged. Id. Accordingly, we deny
Peterson’s claim.
Peterson also contends that appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to
ensure that the entire trial record was transcribed and became a part of the record
on appeal. In Ferguson v. Singletary, 632 So. 2d 53, 58 (Fla. 1993), this Court
rejected a similar claim that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to have
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transcribed portions of the record, including parts of voir dire, the charge
conference, and a discussion of whether the defendant would testify. The Court
reasoned that “[h]ad appellate counsel asserted error which went uncorrected
because of the missing record, or had [the defendant] pointed to errors in this
petition, this claim may have had merit.” Id. However, because the defendant
“point[ed] to no specific error which occurred” during the portions of the record
that remained untranscribed, the Court concluded that appellate counsel was not
ineffective. Id.; see also Turner v. Dugger, 614 So. 2d 1075, 1079-80 (Fla. 1992)
(finding defendant had not been prejudiced by failure of counsel to have charge
conference transcribed). More recently, in Thompson, 759 So. 2d 650, this Court
considered a similar claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel when
counsel did not provide this Court with an adequate record during the direct appeal
“because some pretrial hearings and bench conferences were not transcribed and
included in the appellate record.” Id. at 660. In rejecting this claim, this Court
explained, that “[a]s with the defendant in Ferguson, Thompson has not pointed to
any errors that occurred during the untranscribed portions of the proceedings.
Therefore, these habeas claims are without merit.” Id.
Peterson has not “pointed to any errors that occurred during the
untranscribed portions of the proceedings.” Id. Accordingly, we deny this habeas
claim.
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CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the denial of postconviction relief and
deny Peterson’s petition for habeas corpus relief. However, we vacate Peterson’s
sentence of death and remand for a new penalty phase proceeding under Hurst.
It is so ordered.
LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
LAWSON, J., concurs specially with an opinion.
CANADY, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, in which
POLSTON, J., concurs.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND
IF FILED, DETERMINED.
LAWSON, J., concurring specially.
See Okafor v. State, 42 Fla. L. Weekly S639, S641, 2017 WL 2481266, at
*6 (Fla. June 8, 2017) (Lawson, J., concurring specially).
CANADY, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority’s decisions to affirm the denial of Peterson’s
motion to recuse or disqualify the trial judge, to affirm the denial of relief
regarding the conviction, and to deny habeas relief. However, I dissent from the
decision to vacate the death sentence because, as I have previously explained,
Hurst should not be given retroactive effect. See Mosley v. State, 209 So. 3d 1248,
1285-91 (Fla. 2016) (Canady, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). The
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other penalty phase issues raised by Peterson are without merit. Accordingly, I
would affirm Peterson’s death sentence.
POLSTON, J., concurs.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Duval County,
Lawrence Page Haddock, Judge - Case No. 162005CF011551AXXXMA
And an Original Proceeding – Habeas Corpus
Frank Tassone and Casey Woolsey of Tassone & Dreicer, LLC, Jacksonville,
Florida,
for Appellant/Petitioner
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Jennifer L. Keegan, Assistant Attorney
General, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellee/Respondent
- 28 -
& SC16-1279 Robert Earl Peterson v. State of Florida and Robert Earl Peterson v. Julie L. Jones, etc.
Combined Opinion