Opinion ID: 1855142
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Testimony of Barbara Savage

Text: Thompson's sixth and seventh postconviction issues and thirteenth habeas claim, a portion of his twentieth habeas claim and his thirty-fourth habeas claim all center on the testimony of Barbara Savage. Savage was an eyewitness to the crime. During the resentencing proceeding, the trial court found Savage to be an unavailable witness. The State then introduced Savage's testimony from the second sentencing proceeding and Thompson introduced an affidavit in which Savage averred to the existence of mitigating circumstances. In these proceedings, Thompson makes several related claims, including that a Hitchcock error occurred during resentencing because he was unable to introduce mitigating evidence due to Savage's unavailability and that the State committed a Brady [7] violation by coercing Savage into not testifying. During the direct appeal from this resentencing, we extensively examined the issue of Savage's unavailability and concluded that the use of Savage's prior testimony did not deny Thompson's rights to due process or confrontation. See Thompson, 619 So.2d at 265. Thompson's claims that the introduction of Savage's prior testimony resulted in a Hitchcock error are procedurally barred because Thompson already raised this claim on direct appeal, [8] and we decided the issue against him. See id. As we held in Medina v. State, 573 So.2d 293, 295 (Fla.1990), `[p]roceedings under rule 3.850 are not to be used as a second appeal.' Rutherford v. State, 727 So.2d 216, 218-19 n. 2 (Fla.1998). Further, we deny habeas claims twenty and thirty-four. Appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective because these claims were actually raised on direct appeal. See, e.g., Groover, 656 So.2d at 425. In a closely related issue, Thompson claims that the State violated Brady by frightening Savage into becoming an unavailable witness. (Appellant's Initial Brief at 40.) According to Thompson, the Assistant State Attorney told Savage that if she failed to check in with him prior to trial, the Assistant State Attorney would contact local authorities. The trial court found that this claim was procedurally barred because Thompson raised this issue during the direct appeal from the resentencing. Assuming that Thompson is correct that this issue was not procedurally barred because he did not raise a Brady claim during the direct appeal and could not have raised this issue on direct appeal because the information upon which the claim is based was not available at that time, we nevertheless affirm the trial court's decision as the Brady claim is without merit. See Caso v. State, 524 So.2d 422, 424 (Fla.1988) (A conclusion or decision of a trial court will generally be affirmed, even when based on erroneous reasoning, if the evidence or an alternative theory supports it.); see also State v. Covington, 392 So.2d 1321, 1323 (Fla.1981) (affirming order under review on different grounds than those advanced by the trial court). In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), the United States Supreme Court held that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused ... violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. Recently, the Court explained that a Brady claim has three elements: [1] The evidence at issue must be favorable to the accused, either because it is exculpatory, or because it is impeaching; [2] that evidence must have been suppressed by the State, either willfully or inadvertently; and [3] prejudice must have ensued. Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 119 S.Ct. 1936, 1948, 144 L.Ed.2d 286 (1999). A defendant is prejudiced by the suppression of exculpatory evidence if it is material, in other words if there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different if the suppressed documents had been disclosed to the defense. Id. at 1952. Reasonable probability has been defined as a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985) (plurality); see Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 435, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). However, taking Thompson's allegations as true, it is difficult to characterize the Assistant State Attorney's statement that he would call local law enforcement authorities in Georgia if Savage did not check in with the State prior to trial as the suppression of exculpatory evidence. Instead, it appears to be an attempt by the State to secure the presence of the witness. Even assuming that these actions could constitute the suppression of exculpatory evidence, this claim is meritless because Savage's testimony would not be considered material under Strickler, Kyles, and Bagley. The State here introduced Savage's former testimony to describe the circumstances of the crime. This testimony was corroborated by Thompson's confession made close to the time of the crime as well as his testimony in his codefendant Surace's trial. Further, Thompson introduced Savage's affidavit to support mitigating factors at trial. Although Thompson alleges that if available to testify, Savage would have given additional mitigating testimony concerning Thompson's intoxication at the time of his offense, her testimony could not reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. Kyles, 514 U.S. at 435, 115 S.Ct. 1555. Thus, we find this postconviction claim to be without merit, and also deny the habeas ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim because appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise a meritless issue. See, e.g., Groover, 656 So.2d at 425.