Opinion ID: 1697173
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: supplement to motion for rehearing

Text: Rivera asserts that the trial court should have granted him an opportunity to investigate based on allegations in his supplement to his motion for rehearing. Rivera argues that the trial court denied him due process when it foreclosed his opportunity to obtain transcripts from a federal evidentiary hearing concerning Frank Zuccarello's testimony in another case, the 1986 murder of Stanley Cohen, and prevented him from presenting claims arising from such information. We disagree. Rivera was not seeking to supplement a motion that had not yet been ruled upon by the trial court; rather, the trial court had already denied postconviction relief, and the only issue pending was the motion for rehearing. Cf. Gaskin v. State, 737 So.2d 509, 518 (Fla.1999) (holding that it was error for the trial court to not consider the merits of new allegations in a timely filed amended postconviction motion), receded from on other grounds by Nelson v. State, 875 So.2d 579, 583 (Fla. 2004); McConn v. State, 708 So.2d 308, 310 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (stating that when a defendant is requesting leave to supplement a postconviction motion by adding more information on an issue initially raised in a first motion for postconviction relief, a court should allow such a supplement). Moreover, the grant or denial of a motion for rehearing is a matter within the discretion of the trial court. Dries v. State, 899 So.2d 489, 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); cf. Huff v. State, 762 So.2d 476, 481 (Fla.2000) (stating that the standard of review for a trial court's determination regarding a motion to amend a postconviction motion is whether there was an abuse of discretion). Nevertheless, our affirmance on this issue is without prejudice to Rivera to submit evidence of the federal proceedings involving Zuccarello at the postconviction evidentiary hearing on remand to the extent those proceedings can be demonstrated to be relevant to the issues raised.