Opinion ID: 2757661
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Concern for Her Children

Text: Next, Blake argues that the postconviction court should have concluded that his trial counsel was ineffective for not questioning Teresa about whether her testimony was motivated by a fear that if she did not assist the State, the State would attempt to take her children away from her. Blake appears to contend that if - 29 - asked, Teresa would have admitted having a fear of losing her children or that if she denied having such a fear, trial counsel could have used extrinsic evidence to impeach her. Blake did not establish that reasonable trial counsel should have known about this potential bias. During the evidentiary hearing, Blake produced a document from the Winter Haven Police Department. It was signed by a detective and dated December 13, 2002. The report read: On 12-09-2002, I was assigned this case for follow-up investigation. This case is a result of DCF case #02-193854, which alleges child abuse. I met with the family and found the children were normally clothed and well behaved. The apartment was orderly and there was a normal amount of food. The children appeared healthy and happy and denied any abuse or neglect. The suspect, Teresa Jones stated that she never sends her kids out at night for any reason. She feels that this was falsely reported by a neighbor who is angry at her. Case closed/unfounded. Whether this report would tend to establish that Teresa was biased is unclear. On one hand, the report shows that Teresa’s parenting was investigated by law enforcement officers shortly after the Patel shooting. On the other hand, the report clears Teresa of wrongdoing, indicating that she would no longer need to fear losing custody of her children as a result of that accusation of child abuse. Blake also relies on the evidentiary hearing testimony of Priscilla Hatcher and Travell Jones. Hatcher testified that a few days after Blake was arrested, she observed a uniformed law enforcement officer, who she knew by the name Mouse, - 30 - say to Teresa and Green: “You better come with me and I can help you out of this. You want your kids taken away? It’s you or them, it’s you or them, you better tell them what they want to hear, it’s up to you.” Travell Jones (Travell), in turn, testified at the evidentiary hearing: [Teresa] was more afraid of something happening to her kids, or somebody doing harm to her. So she said she wasn’t going to get involved in the Court system with this and she advised me not to either at that time. So, anyway, nobody ever came forward and asked me nothing about it so I never said anything to any cops or anything about the situation and so on. When reviewing whether counsel’s investigation was deficient, “a court must consider not only the quantum of evidence already known to counsel, but also whether the known evidence would lead a reasonable attorney to investigate further.” Ferrell v. State, 918 So. 2d 163, 170 (Fla. 2005) (quoting Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 527)). “Strickland does not require counsel to investigate every conceivable line of mitigating evidence no matter how unlikely the effort would be to assist the defendant.” Id. at 170 (quoting Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 533). Here, Blake failed to demonstrate that trial counsel knew or should have known to ask Teresa whether she had any concern about State action regarding her children. The record does not establish whether the State provided the police report to trial counsel, and Blake does not explain why trial counsel should have known to interview Hatcher or Travell about Teresa’s possible bias. Furthermore, while Hatcher’s comment could support the inference that Teresa testified against - 31 - Blake because she feared the State would take her children, Travell’s statement can be read to suggest that Teresa actually feared that Blake would harm her children if she cooperated with the State. “An ineffective assistance claim does not arise from the failure to present . . . evidence where that evidence presents a double-edged sword.” Reed v. State, 875 So. 2d 415, 437 (Fla. 2004).