Opinion ID: 1804987
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Issue 4: The Trial Court's Summary Denial of Windom's Claims

Text: Windom argues that the post-conviction court erred in summarily denying the following claims: (1) Windom is innocent of first-degree murder and innocent of the death penalty because the jury was given unconstitutionally vague instructions with regard to the CCP aggravating factor and because Windom's death sentences are disproportionate; (2) Windom's death sentences are unconstitutional because the penalty-phase jury instructions improperly shifted the burden of proof to Windom; (3) Windom's death sentences are premised on fundamental error because the jury was not given adequate guidance with regard to the CCP aggravating factor; (4) Windom's death sentences are predicated upon an automatic aggravating circumstance because Windom's jury was instructed that it could find the prior violent felony aggravator based on his contemporaneous convictions; and (5) Windom's constitutional rights were violated by the rules prohibiting Windom's lawyers from interviewing jurors to determine if constitutional error existed with respect to their verdict. We find no error in the post-conviction court's summary denial of these claims. All of these claims are procedurally barred because they either were raised and rejected on direct appeal or could have been raised on direct appeal. See Harvey v. Dugger, 656 So.2d 1253, 1256 (Fla.1995) (stating that issues that could have been but were not raised on direct appeal or issues that were raised and rejected on direct appeal are not cognizable through collateral attack).