Title: Bryan v. Butterworth
Citation: 692 So. 2d 878
Docket Number: 87777
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: March 27, 1997

692 So. 2d 878 (1997)
Anthony BRYAN, Appellant,
v.
Robert A. BUTTERWORTH, etc., Appellee.
No. 87777.

Supreme Court of Florida.
March 27, 1997.
Rehearing Denied April 28, 1997.
*879 Pamela H. Izakowitz, Assistant CCR, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Charlie McCoy, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
We have on appeal the denial of the request by Anthony Bryan, a death-sentenced defendant, for disclosure of records in the possession of the State. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. We affirm.
Bryan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for accosting an elderly night watchman in 1983, striking him on the back of the head, and then shooting him in the face with a shotgun as he lay on the ground. Bryan v. State, 533 So. 2d 744 (Fla.1988). The conviction and sentence were affirmed in 1988. Id. Bryan sought disclosure in 1994 of certain State files relating to the case and the trial court denied the request. Bryan seeks review, claiming that the court erred in ruling that the materials are not public records. We disagree.
After conducting an in-camera review of the requested materials, the trial court issued the following order:
(Footnotes omitted.)
The Florida Supreme Court explained the meaning of "public record" under Florida's Public Records Law, chapter 119, Florida Statutes (1975):
Shevin v. Byron, Harless, Schaffer, Reid and Associates, 379 So. 2d 633, 640 (Fla.1980).
As is apparent from the trial court's order quoted above, the court's application of the Shevin standard to the materials in issue in the present case was largely a factual determination hinging on the court's in-camera review of the documents. See generally State v. Kokal, 562 So. 2d 324, 327 (Fla.1990) (where there is any doubt as to the propriety of disclosure of a particular document, the party should "furnish[] it in camera to the trial judge for a determination"). To the extent that these documents do not fall within the scope of those materials protected from disclosure under Shevin, they clearly fall within the work product exemption of section 119.07(3)(l), Florida Statutes (1995).
Our review of the record shows that competent substantial evidence supports the trial court's findings. Accordingly, we will not second-guess the trial court on this matter. See Orme v. State, 677 So. 2d 258, 262 (Fla. 1996) ("Our duty on appeal is to review the record in the light most favorable to the prevailing theory and to sustain that theory if it is supported by competent substantial evidence."), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S. Ct. 742, 136 L. Ed. 2d 680 (1997). We affirm the order under review.
It is so ordered.
KOGAN, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.