Opinion ID: 1890788
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Habeas Issue IV. Failure to Challenge Admission of Evidence

Text: Pace next asserts that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to assert on direct appeal that the trial court erred by improperly admitting a pair of pants, which allegedly belong to Pace, with spots of blood on them. Pace's trial counsel objected on several occasions that the State failed to sufficiently demonstrate that the pants belonged to Pace. Although Pace's appellate counsel did not raise the issue on appeal, Pace has failed to demonstrate that his appellate counsel performed deficiently by not raising this issue. In Garcia v. State, 564 So.2d 124 (Fla.1990), this Court stated: Evidence is authenticated when prima facie evidence is introduced to prove that the proffered evidence is authentic. The finding of authenticity does not mean that the trial judge makes a finding that the proffered evidence is genuine. He only determines whether prima facie evidence of its genuineness exists. Once the matter has been admitted the opposing party may challenge its genuineness. The jury then determines as a matter of fact whether the proffered evidence is genuine. Id. at 126 (quoting Charles W. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence § 901.1, at 570-71 (2d ed.1984)). There was prima facie evidence presented during Pace's guilt phase to sufficiently authenticate that the pants belonged to Pace. The pants were found in Pace's bedroom, and one witness identified the pants as the pair that Pace was wearing the day after the murder. Other witnesses testified that, although they could not conclusively identify the pants, the pants looked like a pair that Pace owned. Additionally, witnesses testified that the pair of pants Pace was wearing after the murder had blood stains on them that were essentially identical to the blood stains on the pants admitted into evidence. Counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise a meritless issue. See Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 646.