Case Name: Corey THOMAS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2018-07-06
Citations: 246 So. 3d 1300
Docket Number: Case No. 5D18–185
Parties: Corey THOMAS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 246
Pages: 1300–1300

Head Matter:
Corey THOMAS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Case No. 5D18-185
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Opinion filed July 6, 2018
Corey, Thomas, Jasper, pro se.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Lori Hagan, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Appellant challenges the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion. We find merit in Appellant's challenge to the summary denial of claim 3 and, accordingly, reverse as to that claim. In all other respects, we affirm.
Claim 3 involves the contention that counsel was ineffective in advising Appellant to withdraw a motion to sever the murder charge from the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge. The trial court concluded that this was an obvious trial strategy that could be discerned conclusively from the records attached to the order. We disagree. On remand, unless other records exist that conclusively refute this claim, the trial court shall conduct an evidentiary hearing on claim 3.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED.
SAWAYA, PALMER and TORPY, JJ., concur.