Opinion ID: 1882598
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Object to Unconstitutional Jury Instructions

Text: Suggs claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to sufficiently argue during the penalty phase that the jury instructions on the HAC and CCP aggravating factors were unconstitutionally vague. Suggs relies upon the United States Supreme Court's decision in Espinosa v. Florida, 505 U.S. 1079, 112 S.Ct. 2926, 120 L.Ed.2d 854 (1992), wherein the HAC instruction given at Espinosa's penalty-phase proceeding was declared invalid. This claim is plainly without merit since we found in the direct appeal that the instruction given at Suggs' penalty-phase proceeding was not the instruction determined to be invalid in Espinosa. Suggs, 644 So.2d at 70. Furthermore, counsel could not be ineffective in failing to argue the Espinosa decision because the jury recommended a sentence of death on June 9, 1992, and Espinosa was not decided until June 29, 1992. In respect to the CCP jury instruction, the CCP instruction was not declared unconstitutionally vague until 1994 by this Court's decision in Jackson v. State, 648 So.2d 85, 90 (Fla.1994). Since Jackson was decided, we have consistently held that trial counsel cannot be held ineffective for failing to anticipate changes in the law. Cherry v. State, 781 So.2d 1040, 1053 (Fla.2000). Finally, we denied the same claims in Harvey v. Dugger, 656 So.2d 1253, 1258 (Fla.1995), wherein the defendant claimed that counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the HAC and CCP instructions based on Espinosa and Jackson, because trial counsel cannot be deemed ineffective under the test set out in Strickland for failing to object to these instructions when this Court had previously upheld the validity of these instructions. We therefore affirm the postconviction court's denial of relief.