Opinion ID: 1907500
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: issues

Text: Mansfield asserts that the testimony given at trial by Michael Derrick Johns, also known as Christopher Scott Randall (Randall), was false testimony in violation of Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972). A Giglio violation is established when it is shown that (1) the testimony given was false; (2) the prosecutor knew the testimony was false; and (3) the statement was material. Guzman v. State, 868 So.2d 498, 505 (Fla.2003). A statement is material if there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the jury's decision. Id. at 507. At trial, Randall testified that while he was sharing a holding cell with Mansfield at the Osceola County Courthouse, Mansfield confessed to killing Robles. According to Randall, Mansfield described the details of the murder and then told him that he went swimming after the murder so that the chlorine would eliminate any evidence on him. Randall testified that no deals or promises had been made in exchange for his testimony, although he was awaiting sentencing and believed that the trial judge knew that he was testifying on behalf of the State in Mansfield's case. Randall stated that he was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in Osceola County, and when asked whether he had charges for which he was being prosecuted outside of Osceola County, he stated that he did not know what was happening with other charges he had in Pinellas County. He also later stated that he had no pending trials. On cross-examination, Randall admitted that prior to Mansfield's trial, he had been an informant in other federal and state cases. Defense counsel also elicited that Randall had used other names and had lied to officers about his birthdate during prior arrests. Randall testified that he had been convicted of five felony counts in the federal system and that he received a lighter sentence after he testified against another federal prisoner. Randall also stated that he left the halfway house where he lived following his federal sentence. He told the jury that he was still awaiting sentencing on the state charges to which he had pled guilty but that he was testifying at Mansfield's trial because he wanted to give a little something back and not to gain any benefit for himself. During this cross-examination, defense counsel also exposed many instances where Randall's testimony conflicted with responses he gave during his deposition. Mansfield's claim is that Randall gave false testimony because, when asked whether he had any other pending charges, he failed to tell the jury that he had been indicted for an additional eleven federal charges on March 1, 1996. The record reflects that Randall was not arrested pursuant to this indictment until after Mansfield's trial. Randall was in jail at the time that Mansfield allegedly made the incriminating statements to him because he had pled guilty to state charges of robbery, attempted robbery, escape, and battery in Osceola County. While awaiting sentencing for these convictions, on March 26, 1997, Randall requested information from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office about any pending holds on potential federal charges, and the response he received stated: [A]t this time I have: USMO, Middle District ch: Escape, FDLETampa Ch. Robbery x2, FDLETampa Ch. G/T x2, USMOMiddle District Ch: Bank Robbery & Escape, Pinellas Co. Ch: G/T. That is what I have listed, there may be more? Randall was arrested on the federal indictment on November 19, 1997, after he testified at Mansfield's trial on November 7. Mansfield asserts that the information on the pending holds that Randall received on March 26, 1997, proved that both he and the State knew about his additional pending federal charges and that Randall and the State failed to reveal this information to the jury. Dorothy Sedgwick, an assistant state attorney for Osceola County, prosecuted Mansfield. At the postconviction hearing, she testified that she considered Randall's testimony as to Mansfield's confession truthful, but she thought the jury might discount it given his extensive criminal record. She also stated that she did not have a good understanding of what the federal charges against Randall were at the time of Mansfield's trial, although she and Mansfield's attorney had done extensive research in an effort to determine what charges Randall was facing. She stated that she gave Mansfield's defense counsel any information she had about charges pending against Randall. Sedgwick also stated that she had never negotiated a lower sentence on Randall's behalf. She did, however, speak to the prosecutor for the State in Randall's case six days after the Mansfield trial. This prosecutor subsequently agreed to sentence Randall at the lower end of the sentencing guidelines for his charges of robbery, attempted robbery, escape, and battery. Kathleen Flammia, trial counsel for Mansfield, stated at the evidentiary hearing that if she had had any knowledge of Randall's federal charges at trial, she would have used that information to impeach him. She stated that she and the defense investigator performed research to determine whether Randall had federal charges, but they were unable to find any information. She also stated that she knew there was a federal hold on Randall's charges because he told her this at his deposition before trial, but she did not use that information to impeach him. She stated that knowing he had a federal hold placed on him was different than knowing about charges against him and that she was not sure how she would use the fact of his federal hold to impeach him. She stated that she had reviewed his Osceola County Jail file. The only evidence Mansfield presented was that Randall and the State knew about his federal hold, but defense counsel Flammia testified that she also knew about a federal hold. [11] When asked if he had any other charges or was awaiting any other trials, there was no evidence presented that Randall was lying when he responded in the negative. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the State knew of the federal charges. We find that Mansfield has failed to meet the first two prongs of Giglio. We also hold that Mansfield has not demonstrated a Giglio violation because he has failed to prove the third prong of materiality. While, as Mansfield points out, the materiality test under Giglio is more defense friendly than the materiality test in Brady, [12] these facts still fail to meet this standard. Guzman, 868 So.2d at 507. The jury was made aware of Randall's past federal convictions, his current state charges, the fact that he had escaped from a federal halfway house, and the numerous times Randall had informed on other fellow inmates. We find no error in the trial court's determination that extra charges pending against Randall would not have made Randall sufficiently less credible in the jury's eyes than he already was, and thus there is no reasonable likelihood that the jury would have found Mansfield not guilty had the jury known about these federal charges. Mansfield also claims that Randall lied at the trial when he stated that he did not expect to receive any benefits for his testimony against Mansfield. Assistant State Attorney Sedgwick stated in her opening statement that Randall would tell the jury that no agreement existed, although Randall was hoping that his cooperation would affect his upcoming sentencing. Mansfield asserts that this statement and the fact that Sedgwick spoke to a prosecutor on Randall's behalf within a month of Mansfield's trial conflicted with Randall's testimony that he did not expect any benefit as the result of his testimony. The postconviction court found there was no evidence that Randall was promised any benefit in exchange for his testimony. We do not find that the trial court's finding was error. We agree and affirm the postconviction court's denial of this claim. We have considered each of the claims presented by Mansfield in respect to the denial of his rule 3.851 motion. We affirm the trial court's denial of the motion.