Opinion ID: 1802709
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Information With Regard To Ali

Text: Jimenez asserts that (1) the State committed a Brady [4] violation when it failed to disclose information with regard to the cab driver Ali or, alternatively, (2) trial counsel was ineffective due to the failure to discover this information. The State allegedly failed to properly advise Jimenez that Ali had given statements to law enforcement that Jimenez was not the man that he had picked up in his cab on the day of the murder. The State also allegedly harassed Ali on multiple occasions to identify this passenger as Jimenez. Further, Jimenez asserts that this information only became available in April 2005 when postconviction counsel McClain interviewed Ali. Between October 1992 and April 2005, Jimenez alleges that Ali was unavailable because he did not respond to the multiple subpoenas that had been issued by defense counsel to interrogate him in deposition. Defense counsel wished to question Ali with regard to statements he had allegedly made to the public defender and handwritten notes of that public defender, who had been assigned as Jimenez's original trial counsel but was later replaced by new counsel. This subclaim is procedurally barred. The record establishes that Jimenez was aware of this information as early as December 11, 2002, when he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with this Court. In that petition, Jimenez stated that [a]ccording to Mr. Ali, the fare that he picked up at the apartment complex shortly after 8:00 p.m. was bleeding from the face. Mr. Ali was unable to identify Mr. Jimenez as this fare who was bleeding from his face. (Emphasis supplied.) Whether this information was gathered from either the notes of the public defender or some other source, Jimenez was already aware of this information as early as December 11, 2002. The successive rule 3.851 motion was not filed within one year of this date; thus, this evidence is not newly discovered and does not provide a basis to review the merits of this subclaim. [5] Additionally, Jimenez has not established that a fundamental constitutional right, which provides a basis for relief under this subclaim (or any other subclaim discussed below), was formulated sometime after the convictions and sentence became final and should receive retroactive application. Even if there were no procedural bar, the subclaim with regard to Ali would be without merit. To establish a Brady claim, the defendant must demonstrate that (1) favorable evidence, which is either exculpatory or impeaching, (2) was willfully or inadvertently suppressed by the State, and (3) the defendant was prejudiced because the evidence was material. See Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-82, 119 S.Ct. 1936, 144 L.Ed.2d 286 (1999); Way v. State, 760 So.2d 903, 910 (Fla. 2000). Here, the trial court correctly found that the first prong under Brady was not satisfied because this allegedly suppressed information was neither exculpatory nor impeaching. Ali would have merely testified that he picked up a person, who stated that he had been mugged and was bleeding from the face, approximately sixteen blocks from the crime scene and approximately thirty minutes after the murder of Minas. This testimony from Ali would not have logically connected the person that he picked up in his cab to the murder. Also, Jimenez has failed to allege how this testimony from Ali would impeach any of the evidence presented by the State during the trial. Thus, the record conclusively refutes this subclaim. Additionally, Jimenez's assertion that trial counsel was ineffective due to the failure to discover this information with regard to Ali is without merit. Following the High Court's decision in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), this Court has held that for ineffective assistance of counsel claims to be successful, two requirements must be satisfied: First, the claimant must identify particular acts or omissions of the lawyer that are shown to be outside the broad range of reasonably competent performance under prevailing professional standards. Second, the clear, substantial deficiency shown must further be demonstrated to have so affected the fairness and reliability of the proceeding that confidence in the outcome is undermined. A court considering a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel need not make a specific ruling on the performance component of the test when it is clear that the prejudice component is not satisfied. Maxwell v. Wainwright, 490 So.2d 927, 932 (Fla.1986) (citations omitted). Here, trial counsel was clearly not deficient for the failure to discover information that was neither exculpatory nor impeaching.