Opinion ID: 1620060
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: Prosecutor's Comments and Sentencing Instructions

Text: Peede next argues that the trial court and the State unconstitutionally minimized his jurors' sense of responsibility in violation of Caldwell v. Mississippi, 472 U.S. 320, 105 S.Ct. 2633, 86 L.Ed.2d 231 (1985), and that appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to raise this issue. Caldwell claims can and should be raised on direct appeal if trial counsel objected regarding these issues in the trial court, making a claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel cognizable in these proceedings. King v. Dugger, 555 So.2d 355, 357 (Fla.1990). With regard to alleged improper jury instructions on voir dire, this Court found in Peede II that to the extent that Peede is alleging that the trial court improperly instructed the jury, the claim is procedurally barred because it should have been raised on direct appeal, and that the record refuted the claim because [t]he judge's instructions to the jury were neutral on their face, and they merely inquired whether prospective jurors could follow the law. Peede II, 748 So.2d at 258 n. 8. Further, Peede's trial counsel did not object to the prosecutor's or court's comments regarding the jury's role. Therefore, appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise an unpreserved claim. Johnson v. Moore, 837 So.2d 343, 347 (Fla.2002) (citing Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 646). Peede's counsel also did not object to the court's statements during voir dire. During voir dire, the trial court correctly told potential jurors of the gravity of their duty, telling them [T]he jury's recommendation is given very heavy weight. Although Peede argues that the trial court and prosecutor erred in emphasizing the jury's role as only a recommender of a sentence, we note that Peede's counsel also referred to the jury's advisory sentence as a recommendation when addressing a potential juror and during his closing argument in the penalty phase. Peede's counsel did not object to the court's jury instructions in the guilt phase of the trial, to the prosecutor's calling the jury's sentence a recommendation to the court, or to the trial court's jury instructions during the penalty phase. Moreover, the trial court expressed the importance of the jury's role in the penalty phase: The fact that the determination of whether a majority of you recommended a sentence of death or sentence of life imprisonment in this case can be reached by a single ballot should not influence you to act hastily or without due regard to the gravity of these proceedings. Before you ballot, you should carefully weigh, sift and consider the evidence, and all of it, realizing that human life is at stake, and bring to bear your best judgment in reaching your advisory sentence. Because we conclude there is no merit to Peede's argument that these statements were erroneous, appellate counsel was not ineffective in failing to raise these issues on appeal. Id. (citing Lambrix v. Singletary, 641 So.2d 847, 848-49 (Fla.1994)).