Opinion ID: 1814310
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Counsel's Failure to Object

Text: In his third claim, Williams asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the State's closing arguments which asserted that it was uncontroverted that Williams was the boss of the drug operation and that the codefendants who were sent to Pensacola did what they did pursuant to Williams' instructions. The trial court denied the claim, finding that the statements did not involve Williams' right to remain silent and were not otherwise improper. While a prosecutor may not make a comment which is fairly susceptible of being interpreted as referring to the defendant's failure to testify, see State v. Marshall, 476 So.2d 150, 153 (Fla.1985), this does not mean that he or she is prohibited from commenting on the uncontradicted nature of the evidence. As this Court elaborated in Rodriguez v. State, 753 So.2d 29 (Fla.2000), [2] where the evidence is uncontradicted on a point that only the defendant can contradict, a comment on the failure to contradict the evidence becomes an impermissible comment on the failure of the defendant to testify. Id. at 38. Williams first asserts that his trial counsel should have objected to the prosecutor's comments regarding the fact that it was uncontested that Williams was the head of the drug operation. Such information, however, is not the type of evidence that only Williams could contradict. Moreover, this was a fact that even defense counsel conceded and attempted to use in Williams' favor. Williams also contends that his counsel was ineffective in failing to object to comments regarding the uncontested evidence relating to the crime scene. As the trial court pointed out, however, these comments did not implicate Williams' right to remain silent because it was undisputed that Williams was never at the crime scene and thus would not have been able to testify about these matters.