Case Name: William Stewart STEELE, Appellant, v. Terrence E. KEHOE, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-03-20
Citations: 724 So. 2d 1192
Docket Number: No. 96-2212
Parties: William Stewart STEELE, Appellant, v. Terrence E. KEHOE, Appellee.
Judges: W.. SHARP, J., concurs and concurs specially, with opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 724
Pages: 1192–1200

Head Matter:
William Stewart STEELE, Appellant, v. Terrence E. KEHOE, Appellee.
No. 96-2212.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
March 20, 1998.
William Stewart Steele, Daytona Beach, pro se.
Steven G. Mason, Law Offices of Steven G. Mason, Orlando, for Appellee.

Opinion:
HARRIS, J.
William Stewart Steele was convicted of the first degree murder of Andrew Salter, Jr. in 1991 and was sentenced to life in prison. He has spent much of his incarceration seeking review in one form or another. He has consistently claimed that his private attorney, the lawyer who represented him in his appeal, negligently failed to timely file a 3.850 motion on his behalf even though the attorney orally agreed to do so. Steele's attempts to file his own motion outside the time period have consistently been denied by the trial court and by this court because of the two-year filing restraint. Frankly, we did not consider a due process problem inherent in this situation. We were wrong.
Because Steele was unable to have his 3.850 motion heard, he sued his lawyer for malpractice. The trial court dismissed his complaint since Steele, because his 3.85Ó motion was jurisdictionally barred, was unable to prove that he was improperly convicted. Indeed, in those states that have considered the issue, it appears to be the majority view that exoneration is a prerequisite to a legal malpractice action arising from a criminal prosecution. Certainly there is logical support for this holding. First, criminal procedure provides a remedy for ineffective assistance of counsel. Judicial economy will be best served if we permit the criminal court to determine the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel. If the court should determine that the attorney's representation, even if sub-par, did not affect the result of the criminal trial then a subsequent malpractice action should not lie. Second, public policy should recognize that unless a defendant is exonerated, the proximate cause of the defendant's conviction is his or her commission of a crime and not legal malpractice. Third, and most important, unless exoneration is accomplished, a legal malpractice action would be an inadequate remedy.
Under the facts of this case, the requirement of exoneration places Steele in a Catch 22 situation. Steele cannot sue his lawyer for malpractice because of the consequence of the alleged malpractice. Justice requires that some relief be provided. Therefore, the real issue before us now is what due process rights a convicted defendant has in post-conviction matters when he relies on his attorney to pursue remedies designed to prove his innocence and to obtain his freedom and the attorney fails to file within the limitation period. Such a situation highlights the inadequacy of a malpractice action when exoneration is not required. Should a criminal defendant who loses his opportunity to gain freedom and to restore his good name because of the malpractice of his lawyer be limited to civil damages? An award of money damages is an acceptable substitutionary remedy only because the law knows of no other remedy that will make the injured party whole. Money damages would never be awarded for a lost arm if the law could replace the arm. In a case such as the one before us, althoügh money damages would be appropriate to compensate the victim for having been improperly incarcerated before the error was rectified, public policy should not recognize such damages as a substitute for an innocent person's future incarceration. It would truly be an anomaly if the civil juiy awarded Steele $100,000 a year for the years that he had to remain in prison while the taxpayers of this state are required to pay the cost of incarceration for one improperly convicted. If a defendant can prove that he was improperly convicted, he should be set free. If he is denied the opportunity to offer such proof because of the malpractice of his lawyer, fundamental due process requires that he have a remedy that will address his future incarceration and not merely compensate him for improperly staying in prison.
In Lambrix v. State, 698 So.2d 247 (Fla.1996), a case involving a claim that post-conviction counsel was ineffective in not appealing the trial judge's denial of Lambrix's request to represent .himself in his original motion for post-conviction relief, our supreme court held that claims of ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel do not present a valid basis for relief under rule 3.850. But the court did not consider an issue such as the one before us. The Lambrix holding, since Murray v. Giarratano, 492 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 2765, 106 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) was cited as authority, seems to be based on the proposition that because one is not entitled to appointed counsel in post-conviction matters, he has no right to relief if counsel is in fact appointed for him or if he obtains his own counsel and suffers a disadvantage because of his counsel's incompetence. But this ignores the difference between the right to appointed counsel and the right to counsel. Even if a defendant is not necessarily entitled to appointed counsel, still if one is appointed for him or if he is able to obtain his own, he should be able to rely on such counsel's at least filing within the time period.
The reason that no attorney is required in post-conviction matters, according to Justice O'Connor's concurring opinion in Murray, is that post-conviction proceedings are civil in nature and are not a part of the criminal process itself. But, as Justice O'Connor observed, it is a civil action designed, to overturn a presumptively valid criminal judgment. Therefore she suggests that the states should be given considerable discretion in assuring that those imprisoned in their jails obtain meaningful access to the judicial process. Access that will permit only money damages for unjustified future incarceration is simply not meaningful. If a prisoner is denied the opportunity to challenge his conviction under an appropriate rule only because of the negligence of his attorney, then due process requires a belated filing procedure similar to that allowed in belated appeals. The sole issue in such a case would be whether counsel was, in fact, employed for the purpose of filing a post-conviction motion but failed to do so in a timely manner. If so, then, as in a belated appeal, the motion should be heard.
Obviously, if a 3.850 motion which would have proved that Mr. Steele was wrongfully convicted was not timely filed, then he has been disadvantaged by ineffective assistance of counsel. However, there would be no ineffective assistance of counsel in not filing the motion if it would have been unsuccessful in any event. The question is whether we should require that the validity of the claims in the 3.850 motion be determined by the criminal trial court (if possible, the same judge that heard the case) by way of a belated hearing on the motion, or if we should relegate that obligation to a civil trial jury. If we leave the issue to a civil jury, not only will there be a due process concern because a civil jury's decision will have no effect on the defendant's continuing incarceration, but judicial economy, convenience and consistency will also suffer.
We recognize that should the supreme court agree with our position the effectiveness of the two year limitation applicable to 3.850 motions when attorneys are involved will be brought into question. However, few 3.850 motions are filed by attorneys. Further, should an attorney abuse the 3.850 process by not filing or improperly filing such motion in order to extend the time for consideration, severe penalties should follow.
We affirm the dismissal of the civil action. Were it not for Lambrix, we would remand the case to the trial court with instructions to transfer it to the criminal division for a hearing on whether Mr. Kehoe undertook to represent Mr. Steele in the post-conviction process and, if he did, to hold a belated hearing on the claims in Mr. Steele's 3.850 motion. If Mr. Steele were able to show at such hearing that he was improperly convicted, then not only should his conviction be set aside but he would also have a civil claim for damages against Mr. Kehoe. If Mr. Steele were unable to show that Mr. Kehoe agreed to represent him or that his conviction should be set aside, then not only should he remain in prison but his civil action against Mr. Kehoe would be barred.
Because of the importance of this issue, we stay the mandate herein and certify the following issue to the supreme court:
UNDER THE FACTS OF THIS CASE, IS IT APPROPRIATE TO ORDER A BELATED HEARING IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE ATTORNEY WAS IN FACT RETAINED TO FILE A POST-CONVICTION MOTION AND, IF SO, TO DETERMINE THE VALIDITY OF THE ISSUES THAT DEFENDANT ASSERTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN RAISED IN SUCH MOTION?
W.. SHARP, J., concurs and concurs specially, with opinion.
GRIFFIN, C.J., dissents with opinion.
. The dissent cites Duncan v. Campbell, 123 N.M. 181, 936 P.2d 863 (Ct.App.), cert. denied 123 N.M. 168, 936 P.2d 337 (1997), as criticizing the cases that have adopted the rule of exoneration as "thoughtfully, if not well, reasoned." Actually Duncan only criticizes two cases — one from Alaska and the other from Oregon. Neither of these cases discusses civilly compensating defendants who must stay in prison because of their counsel's incompetence. And Duncan, although it expressed some doubts about the rule of exoneration, did not reject the rule. "We need not decide whether to adopt the rule here, however, because even if we were moved by some of the considerations underlying it, we hold that the rule followed in Michigan is more appropriate for New Mexico. See Gebhardt v. O'Rourke [, 444 Mich 535, 510 N.W.2d 900, 907 (1994)7 [citation omitted](holding that even if there are reasons to follow a different substantive rule about legal malpractice in criminal cases, those reasons do not justify lengthening the statute of limitations and would at most justify staying the civil malpractice case until the criminal proceedings were concluded)." 936 P.2d at 865-66.
. Another reason for denying relief was that Lambrix had actually raised the claim before and had it denied and therefore his present motion was successive.
. The dissent continues to miss this distinction. We are not suggesting that due process requires the appointment of an attorney in all 3.850 cases. We are suggesting that a defendant has the right in all 3.850 cases to employ counsel if one is not appointed. The presence of counsel, appointed or employed, carries with it certain rights and restrictions. The primary right is that one experienced in the law acts in the defendant's stead. The most notable restriction is that if counsel is present, the defendant may not act for himself without court approval. State v. Tait, 387 So.2d 338 (Fla.1980). There are certain basic rights of the defendant that cannot be waived by the lawyer. See U.S. v. Teague, 953 F.2d 1525 (11th Cir. 1992) (a criminal defendant has a fundamental constitutional right to testify in his or her own behalf at trial and this right is personal to the defendant and cannot be waived either by the trial court or by defense counsel). The right to be heard on a 3.850 motion should not be lost because of late filing when one employs counsel to file the motion and finds out too late that counsel has not done so.
. It is the defendant's right to have meaningful access to the judicial process that we urge is a due process right. If the defendant is denied the right to attack a presumptively valid criminal judgment because of counsel error and is instead limited to money damages because of an invalid conviction, he has been denied due process.
. Judge Sharp makes a good argument that ha-beas corpus might be appropriate in this situation. I am not concerned with a specific remedy, but only that some remedy is available to address this problem.