Opinion ID: 1814310
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Counsel's Arguments to the Jury

Text: In his second claim, Williams asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective because he told the jury that he believed Williams deserved to be in jail. Specifically, during opening and closing, defense counsel acknowledged that Williams had been convicted of a drug offense. At the postconviction evidentiary hearing, defense counsel explained this decision, asserting that he was trying to use the State's argument that Williams was a big-time drug dealer to Williams' advantage by arguing that it would be ridiculous for Williams to risk $90,000 a week to have somebody killed over the theft of a mere $8000. Moreover, he wanted to ensure the jury knew Williams was already being punished for being a drug dealer. The postconviction court denied this claim, first noting that defense counsel did not concede to a crime which was at issue, but simply acknowledged a crime for which the defendant had already been convicted and used this concession as a cornerstone of his defense. The court concluded that [t]his tactic was not only reasonable, but even in retrospect, it was quite clever. Williams challenges this ruling, contending that the Court has already condemned a similar argument in Clark v. State, 690 So.2d 1280 (Fla.1997). Contrary to such assertions, however, Clark is an extreme case, where defense counsel abdicated his responsibilities and essentially encouraged the jury to side with the State on the very point in contention, i.e., whether the defendant should be sentenced to death. Id. at 1283. Here, defense counsel simply conceded a point which the State had already pointed out and for which no additional punishment could be sought: that the defendant was a drug dealer. Moreover, defense counsel was clearly aware that the jury would be inclined to punish the defendant for being a drug dealer and thus aptly pointed out that the defendant was already serving a significant amount of time for this crime. Counsel even found a way to argue that the defendant's illegal activities would make it less likely that he ordered the codefendants to kill the victims. As this Court has stressed numerous times, strategic decisions do not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel if alternative courses have been considered and rejected and counsel's decision was reasonable under the norms of professional conduct. Occhicone v. State, 768 So.2d 1037, 1048 (Fla. 2000). We agree with the trial court that Williams has not shown how his counsel was ineffective relative to this claim and thus is not entitled to relief.