Opinion ID: 2489132
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Raise Claim Regarding Prior Markings on the Evidence

Text: In his first habeas claim, Wyatt asserts that his appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to raise the claim that the trial court erroneously admitted, over objection, specific pieces of evidence that had markings demonstrating that the evidence had been used in another case or markings that used the word homicides. Although the record shows that the trial court cured these issues by marking out those notations, Wyatt speculates that this would have been difficult to do, based on the number of markings. He further hypothesizes that the jury may have been able to decipher the markings and may have been able to determine that this evidence was introduced in a separate trial regarding other crimes against Wyatt. Counsel was not ineffective in failing to raise this claim on direct appeal because, although defense counsel initially objected to the markings, the trial court cured this objection by removing the markings. Defense counsel did not reassert that this action was insufficient. Thus, the issue was procedurally barred. Moreover, counsel cannot be considered ineffective for failing to raise an argument that relies on pure speculation. See Knight v. State, 923 So.2d 387, 394 (Fla. 2005) (rejecting defendant's claim that appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to challenge on appeal the court's refusal to individually voir dire prospective jurors regarding their views on the death penalty, finding that such a claim amounted to little more than speculation). Counsel speculates that the jury would understand that the markings showed the evidence was admitted in another case against Wyatt himself, as opposed to being used in trial against codefendant Lovette. Wyatt has failed to demonstrate that appellate counsel's deficiency, if any, compromised the appellate process to such a degree as to undermine confidence in the correctness of the result. Rutherford, 774 So.2d at 643 (quoting Thompson, 759 So.2d at 660). Accordingly, we deny this claim.