Opinion ID: 1561405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Ineffective AssistanceFailure to Present Alibi

Text: Floyd next asserts that trial counsel was ineffective for the failure to present evidence of an alibi during the trial. We disagree. Floyd wanted his trial counsel to present the following alibi theory: After fleeing from the sheriff's office, Floyd called his mother from a pay phone and, thereafter, his mother and two brothers took him to the bus station in St. Augustine. Trial counsel testified during the evidentiary hearing that he refused to offer evidence of Floyd's purported alibi because he believed that to do so would commit a fraud on the court. Trial counsel explained that he investigated the purported alibi and discovered that (1) the phone booth from which Floyd claimed to have made the call had been removed two years before the alleged phone call; (2) contrary to Floyd's account, one of Floyd's brothers, who Floyd claimed transported him to the bus station, admitted that he was sleeping at that time; (3) a statement of Floyd's father contradicted that of his mother; and (4) Floyd's father contacted Lamb in an attempt to persuade her to change her testimony so that the alibi would appear sound. Based on these facts, it was reasonable for trial counsel to conclude that the alibi proposed by Floyd was fraudulent. It was completely appropriate for trial counsel to take no action that he believed would perpetrate a fraud upon the court. Counsel's actions in this regard were not deficient, and there was no ineffectiveness.