Johnson v. State
Johnson v. State
Opinion of the Court
Jason M. Johnson appeals the denial of his motion and several amended motions for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Johnson raises nine claims of error in this appeal; however, we affirm on all claims except one. As to Johnson’s claim asserting that the State violated Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972), we reverse and remand for the postconviction court to address the claim on its merits.
Johnson raised his Giglio claim for the first time in his motion for postcon-viction relief. In that claim, he asserted that the State allowed a witness’s false testimony at trial to go uncorrected even though the prosecutor knew the testimony was false.
Here, while Johnson could have raised his Giglio claim on direct appeal, he did not. Under this court’s decision in Robinson, Johnson’s failure to raise this claim on direct appeal does not render it proeedurally barred. And because the claim alleges a violation of Johnson’s substantive due process rights that would otherwise be cognizable under rule 3.850(a)(1), the post-conviction court should have considered the claim on its merits even though it was raised for a first time in Johnson’s post-conviction motion.
Accordingly, we reverse the summary denial of this single claim and remand for the postconviction court to consider it on the merits. In all other respects, we affirm.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.
. "[T]he State may commit [a Giglio ] violation either by deliberately presenting false evidence or by allowing false evidence to go uncorrected when it appears.” Spencer v. State, 842 So.2d 52, 70 (FIa. 2003) (citing Gig-lio, 405 U.S. at 153, 92 S.Ct. 763).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.