Opinion ID: 1819311
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Presence During Peremptory Challenges

Text: Hitchcock next argues that the circuit court erred in denying his claim that his constitutional rights were violated when he was not present at the bench conference where peremptory challenges were exercised, that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to ensure that Hitchcock was present during all critical stages of the proceedings, and that the circuit court erred by not ensuring that the transcript was complete. [12] Hitchcock argues that his trial counsel was ineffective because counsel waived Hitchcock's right to be present at bench conferences where certain peremptory strikes were exercised and because counsel failed to request that the discussion at the bench regarding peremptory challenges be transcribed. The circuit court found that even if some of the peremptory challenges were made at the bench and outside of Hitchcock's presence, his ineffective assistance of counsel claim is without merit because he failed to satisfy the prejudice prong of Strickland. The circuit court found that Hitchcock failed to establish a reasonable probability that the outcome of the proceedings would have been different if jury selection had been carried out in any other manner. We agree. Hitchcock has failed to point to any challenges that were or were not made during the bench conferences that would have been handled differently if he had been present, and he did not allege that he was actually prejudiced by his counsel's actions during jury selection. [13] The trial court did not err in denying relief on this claim. We also agree that Hitchcock has not demonstrated his counsel to be ineffective for failing to request that the challenges be transcribed. Hitchcock only speculates about the prejudice caused by not having access to the transcripts. Such speculation is insufficient to meet the second prong of Strickland. Thompson v. State, 759 So.2d 650, 660 (Fla.2000) (rejecting claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failure to have proceedings transcribed because petitioner did not point to specific errors that occurred in omitted portions of record).