Opinion ID: 1561405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure of Appellate Counsel to Challenge Expert Competency on Direct Appeal

Text: Claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel are properly raised in a petition for writ of habeas corpus. See Freeman v. State, 761 So.2d 1055, 1069 (Fla.2000). Consistent with the Strickland standard, to grant habeas relief based on ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, this Court 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. Cox v. State, 966 So.2d 337, 365 (Fla.2007) (quoting Pope v. Wainwright, 496 So.2d 798, 800 (Fla.1986)). This Court has held that [i]f 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. Rutherford v. Moore, 774 So.2d 637, 643 (Fla.2000) (quoting Williamson v. Dugger, 651 So.2d 84, 86 (Fla.1994)). In his first claim, Floyd notes the holding of the postconviction court that the challenge to the competency of Dr. Krop was procedurally barred because it should have been raised on direct appeal. Based on this holding, Floyd claims that his appellate counsel was ineffective for the failure to raise this challenge on direct appeal. We conclude that the ineffectiveness claim is without merit because, as we determined in this proceeding, the underlying claim is without merit. See Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 643.