Case Name: Robert A. SULLIVAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1979-06-22
Citations: 372 So. 2d 938
Docket Number: No. 57027
Parties: Robert A. SULLIVAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON and ALDERMAN, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 372
Pages: 938–942

Head Matter:
Robert A. SULLIVAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 57027.
Supreme Court of Florida.
June 22, 1979.
Rehearing Denied July 24, 1979.
Roy E. Black and Frank Furci, Miami, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Wallace E. Allbritton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Robert A. Sullivan appeals from the trial court's denial of his motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.
Sullivan seeks review of twelve issues that were alleged in his motion before the trial court. Eleven of these issues were raised or could have been raised in Sullivan's first appeal to this Court. Sullivan v. State, 303 So.2d 632 (Fla.1974), cert. denied, 428 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 3226, 49 L.Ed.2d 1220 (1976). These matters will not support a collateral attack. State v. Matera, 266 So.2d 661 (Fla.1972); Spenkelink v. State, 350 So.2d 85 (Fla.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 960, 98 S.Ct. 492, 54 L.Ed.2d 320 (1977).
The remaining issue alleges ineffective assistance of counsel. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court, in denying Sullivan's motion, said:
I have seen some frivolous motions come down the pike, but this has got to take the cake. On the ground of inadequacy of counsel, the motion to vacate is denied.
The transcript of the 3.850 hearing supports this conclusion of the trial court.
No substantial questions of law or fact are presented for our determination. The only issue properly before the Court is that of ineffective assistance of counsel, and the transcript of the hearing below together with the record in this cause reveals that it is also without merit.
This appellant was convicted and sentenced to death in November, 1973, and this Court affirmed that conviction on November 27, 1974. Sullivan v. State, 303 So.2d 632 (1974). This was the first case in which the death penalty had been imposed which this Court affirmed under the new death penalty statute. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on July 6, 1976, 428 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 3226, 49 L.Ed.2d 1220. In May of 1977, the Court on its own motion made inquiries to determine if there were any violations of the dictates of Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 51 L.Ed.2d 393. We received no response from the appellant or his counsel and an order denying Gardner relief was entered in January, 1979. The appellant in March, 1977, filed a complaint attacking the executive clemency process. His requested relief was denied in the trial court, the Supreme Court of Florida, Sullivan v. Askew, 348 So.2d 312 (1977), and, finally in October, 1977, by the United States Supreme Court cert. denied, 434 U.S. 878, 98 S.Ct. 232, 54 L.Ed.2d 159 (1977). As this record reflects he obtained new counsel in the fall of 1978 and in March of 1979 commenced this post conviction relief action. It has been more than 4V2 years since the appellant's conviction and sentence during which time he has received consideration of multiple issues by the trial court on three occasions and by this Court on four occasions.
The order of the trial court denying Sullivan's 3.850 motion is affirmed, and Sullivan's motion for stay of execution is denied.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON and ALDERMAN, JJ., concur.
ENGLAND, C. J., and SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., dissent with an opinion.