Opinion ID: 407646
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Request Presentence Investigation Report

Text: 59 Appellant claims that his trial attorney's failure to request a presentence investigation report prior to sentencing left the court completely in the dark concerning petitioner's individual circumstances and constituted gross ineffectiveness of counsel. As noted above, the magistrate agreed with appellant but the district court did not. We agree with the conclusion reached by the district court for two reasons. First, appellant's argument and the magistrate's recommendation are predicated largely on the assumption that a presentence investigation, had it been conducted, would have revealed favorable evidence concerning appellant's character and background 31 that in turn could have served as the basis for a claim of mitigating circumstances. To the extent such investigation might have provided evidence of nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, appellant's argument must fail for the same reason as his claim concerning the attorney's failure to present character witnesses; the attorney reasonably understood the law as limiting mitigating evidence to the statutory mitigating factors. Second, any claim that a presentence investigation would have revealed evidence of statutory mitigating factors, or evidence that would have rebutted the statutory aggravating factors, must also fail. Appellant has submitted no evidence demonstrating that a presentence investigation conducted at the time of his trial would have revealed evidence substantiating any statutory mitigating factors or repudiating any of the aggravating factors asserted by the prosecution. Moreover, having reviewed the testimony of defense counsel at the evidentiary hearing and the rules and cases relied on by the district court, we concur in the court's finding that at the time of appellant's trial Florida law did not provide for presentence investigations in capital cases. 32 Under these circumstances, the attorney's failure to request such investigation cannot be viewed as falling below the level of reasonably effective assistance.