Along with the Rule 3.850 appeal, the Supreme Court also considers separately the issues raised in a petition for habeas corpus if it is claimed that the lawyer who represented the defendant on the original appeal did not provide effective assistance of counsel. This petition enables the defense to point out serious errors of commission or omission made by the appellate lawyer in the direct appeal or other substantiated constitutional errors. The petition must be filed at the same time as the appeal from the ruling on the Rule 3.850 motion. If the Supreme Court afffims and all of the federal constitutional issues have been presented to the state courts and denied, relief can be sought in federal court. Because we have a federal system of government, we have two sets of courts.
State courts determine issues of state law and also determine issues of federal law.
In a criminal case, however, the federal courts have the ultimate right to determine issues of federal constitutional law, provided the defendant has followed procedural rules to qualify those claims for review. The vehicle for seeking relief is called federal habeas corpus and is filed in the federal district court in the district where the person was convicted. Federal district courts are similar to state circuit courts in that they have a single judge presiding and function as a trial court, receiving evidence and deciding issues of law. To file federal habeas corpus, a defendant must first have presented all of the federal claims in the state court in a timely and proper manner and obtained a ruling on those claims from the state court. There is presently no time limit for filing a federal habeas corpus petition, but as a matter of practice, the present Florida Governor will consider signing a death warrant if the federal habeas corpus petition is not filed within 60 days from the time that the Florida Supreme Court decides the Rule 3.850 appeal.