Opinion ID: 1571490
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Factual Basis of Lynch's Guilty Pleas

Text: In his first habeas claim, Lynch asserts that the facts trial counsel proffered during his plea colloquy were legally insufficient to support convictions for (1) armed burglary; (2) kidnapping; and (3) first-degree murder. Therefore, Lynch maintains that appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to argue this point during his direct appeal. Claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel are appropriately presented in a petition for writ of habeas corpus. See Freeman v. State, 761 So.2d 1055, 1069 (Fla.2000); Smith v. State, 400 So.2d 956, 960 (Fla.1981). Consistent with the Strickland standard, to grant habeas relief based on ineffectiveness of counsel, we must determine first, whether the alleged omissions are of such magnitude as to constitute a serious error or substantial deficiency falling measurably outside the range of professionally acceptable performance and, second, whether the deficiency in performance compromised the appellate process to such a degree as to undermine confidence in the correctness of the result. Pope v. Wainwright, 496 So.2d 798, 800 (Fla.1986); see also Freeman, 761 So.2d at 1069; Thompson v. State, 759 So.2d 650, 660 (Fla.2000). In asserting such a claim, [t]he defendant has the burden of alleging a specific, serious omission or overt act upon which the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel can be based. Freeman, 761 So.2d at 1069; see also Knight v. State, 394 So.2d 997, 1001 (Fla.1981). Habeas petitioners may not use claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel to camouflage issues that should have been presented on direct appeal or in a postconviction motion. See Rutherford v. Moore, 774 So.2d 637, 643 (Fla.2000). If a legal issue `would in all probability have been found to be without merit' had counsel raised the issue on direct appeal, the failure of appellate counsel to raise the meritless issue will not render appellate counsel's performance ineffective. Id. (quoting Williamson v. Dugger, 651 So.2d 84, 86 (Fla.1994)). As explained in Parts II.A.i and II.B.i, supra, this claim lacks merit. Trial counsel and Lynch were aware at the time of his plea that the State possessed more than enough evidence to prove Lynch's guilt for all four counts of the indictment, and the facts elicited during the penalty-phase proceedings establish Lynch's commission of these offenses. Appellate counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to raise a meritless issue on appeal. See Lawrence v. State, 831 So.2d 121, 135 (Fla.2002); see also Kokal v. Dugger, 718 So.2d 138, 142 (Fla.1998) (Appellate counsel cannot be faulted for failing to raise a nonmeritorious claim.). Furthermore, Lynch could have, and actually did, include the substance of this habeas claim in his rule 3.851 motion; therefore, habeas relief is an improper remedy in this instance. See Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 643. We thus deny relief on Lynch's first habeas claim.