Opinion

McClain v. Atwater

  • 38 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 169
  • 110 So. 3d 892
  • 2013 Fla. LEXIS 484
  • 2013 WL 1149709
Court
Supreme Court of Florida
Filed
Mar 21, 2013
Status
Published
Author
Canady
On the bench
Canady, Labarga, Lewis, Only, Pariente, Perry, Polston, Quince
Cited by
5 cases
Authority
More cited than 16.9%

The opinion

CANADY, J.,

dissenting.

I agree with the result reached by the trial court because I conclude that there is no statutory authority for making the additional payment sought here for investigative services and no basis for determining the statutory limitations to be unconstitutional. I therefore dissent.

The proper disposition of this case is governed by two simple and incontestable points. First, section 27.711(5), Florida Statutes (2012), unequivocally establishes “a maximum of $15,000, for the purpose of paying for investigative services” in post-conviction death cases. (Emphasis added.) Second, there is “no constitutional right to representation in postconviction relief proceedings,” and accordingly no cognizable claim for ineffective assistance of postcon-viction counsel. State ex rel. Butterworth v. Kenny, 714 So.2d 404, 407 (Fla.1998).

Since there is no constitutional requirement for the State to provide postconviction counsel, there is no constitutional basis for requiring the State to spend public funds beyond the level determined by the Legislature to be appropriate for the benefit of a capital defendant seeking postconviction relief. If the State could constitutionally decline to provide any postconviction counsel for death-sentenced defendants, I cannot fathom how there can be a constitutional mandate that the State provide such a defendant with investigative services costing in excess of the statutory cap of $15,000.

To be sure, the majority in this decision treads along on a path where the Court has trod before in Remeta v. State, 559 *902 So.2d 1132 (Fla.1990), and Olive v. Maas, 811 So.2d 644 (Fla.2002). I would recede from those decisions as seriously flawed violations of the separation of powers. I therefore would affirm the order on review.

POLSTON, C.J., concurs.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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