Batista-Irizarry v. State
Batista-Irizarry v. State
Opinion of the Court
Appellant, Jesus M. Batista-Irizarry, appeals an order summarily denying his pro se motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Appellant raised six claims for postconviction relief, including a cumulative error claim. We affirm without further comment the summary denial of claims 1, 2, and 5, but for the reasons set forth below, we reverse the summary denial of claims 3 sub-claim 1, 4, and 6 and remand for further proceedings.
Following a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of trafficking in 28 grams or more of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by two years of community control, eight years of probation for the trafficking conviction, and time served for the paraphernalia conviction. This Court affirmed Appellant's direct appeal. See Batista-Irizarry v. State,
"A motion for post-conviction relief can be denied without an evidentiary hearing when the motion and record conclusively demonstrate that the movant is entitled to no relief." Kennedy v. State,
In claim 3 sub-claim 1 of his motion, Appellant alleged that his attorney failed to convey a favorable plea offer to him.
The trial court denied this sub-claim, finding that the State did not make a three-year offer and attached portions of a pretrial hearing transcript to its order. However, the court's record attachments do not support this finding. The records reflect that during a bench conference, the State advised the judge, "Your Honor, the-the defendant scores 42 months DOC, a three-year minimum mandatory. I believe the offer from the last pretrial from me was five years. If he wants to plea to five years, the State will let him plea to five years ...." Even though this suggests the State made a five-year plea offer, it does not refute Appellant's contention that the State also made a three-year offer. Because there was no evidentiary hearing, this Court must accept Appellant's factual allegations as true unless the record conclusively refutes them. See Kimbrough,
In claim 4 of his motion, Appellant alleged that his trial counsel's misadvice caused him to forgo a favorable plea offer. Appellant contended that he did not want to go to trial, but his attorney advised him that the State had a weak case. Appellant further asserted that his attorney assured him that counsel would get the charges dismissed and instructed Appellant to say nothing. Appellant contended that, but for his attorney's erroneous advice, he would have accepted the five-year plea offer.
Contrary to the trial court's finding on this claim, Appellant neither alleged that he was not informed of the plea offer nor that he failed to discuss the plea offer with counsel. Rather, he alleged that he rejected the favorable plea offer based on his attorney's erroneous advice. "A claim that misinformation supplied by counsel induced a defendant to reject a favorable plea offer can constitute an actionable ineffective assistance of counsel claim." Hauter v. State,
Finally, in claim 6, Appellant alleged that his trial counsel committed cumulative error during the trial, arguing that the independent claims set forth above entitled him to the relief sought.
*258Because the court erred in summarily denying claims 3 and 4, claim 6 must be reversed and remanded as well. See Flint v. State,
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; REMANDED with instructions
EVANDER, C.J. and ORFINGER, J., concur.
There are two other sub-claims to claim 3. Because Appellant failed to demonstrate entitlement to relief on those claims, we affirm the summary denial as to sub-claims 2 and 3 of claim 3 without further discussion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.