Opinion ID: 1684899
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Challenge the Burglary Charge with Regard to the Statute of Limitations

Text: Overton further contends that the failure of his counsel to challenge the burglary charge on the basis of an expiration of the statute of limitations constituted ineffective assistance. Here, the State alleged that the burglary occurred in August 1991. Thus, assuming the statute of limitations was not extended or tolled, it would have expired in August 1995, because at the time of the incident, the limitation for a prosecution for a first-degree felony (such as the burglary charged here) was four years from the offense date. See § 775.15, Fla. Stat. (1991); Perez v. State, 545 So.2d 1357, 1358 (Fla.1989) ([T]he limitations period in effect at the time of the incident giving rise to the criminal charges controls the time within which prosecution must be begun.). Here, the charging document was not filed until December 1996. See § 775.15(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (1991). The State contends that even if Overton's counsel had challenged the burglary charge based upon the statute of limitations, the State could have amended that charge to an armed burglary, which is a life felony, for which a prosecution could be commenced at any time. § 775.15, Fla. Stat. (1991); § 775.087(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (1991). This ineffective assistance claim is without merit regardless of whether the State could have amended the charging document to include the more serious burglary charge. The State did not need to include a burglary charge in this case for the trial court to find the aggravating factor of murder committed during the course of a felony. See Occhicone v. State, 570 So.2d 902, 906 (Fla.1990) (The state need not charge and convict of felony murder or any felony in order for a court to find the aggravating factor of murder committed during the course of a felony. (citing Ruffin v. State, 397 So.2d 277 (Fla.1981))). Even without a burglary charge, the trial court would have had the basis to still find the murder during a felony aggravator here. There was clear evidence that the MacIvor murders occurred during the commission of a burglary of the MacIvor home by Overton. See Overton, 801 So.2d at 885 (discussing the testimony that Overton had admitted to [Green] that Overton had `done a burglary at a real exclusive, wealthy, wealthy area down in the Keys,' that Overton had admitted that he had surveilled the house on several occasions [and] went to the home carrying a bag, which contained, among other things, a police scanner [and that] [o]ne of the first things [he] completed when he arrived was the cutting of phone wires). This evidence of the burglary was an integral part of the description of the MacIvor murders. Therefore, even without the burglary charge, the evidence of the identical conduct would have still been presented during trial, and the trial court would have still had the basis to find the aggravator included in sentencing Overton to death. There was no prejudice.