Opinion ID: 1863013
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claim I. Public Records

Text: Johnson argues that the circuit court erred in declining to provide him additional time to review the state attorney records that were discovered in the Attorney General's office. Johnson also argues that public records are missing and that the circuit court erred in refusing to conduct an evidentiary hearing concerning the matter. As to Johnson's first claim, as illustrated in the procedural history set forth above, Johnson had sufficient time to review the records discovered in the Attorney General's office. In its order the circuit court stated: On July 22, 1996, Judge Robert L. Doyel found that the defendant's attorneys, members of the Office of the Capital Collateral Representative (hereinafter CCR) had received all of the public records to which it is entitled and ordered CCR to file the amended rule 3.850 motion by September 16, 1996.... On December 26, 1996, CCR filed a motion to hold proceedings in abeyance because [a]n inspection of the Attorney General's records has revealed that public records exist that have not been provided to Mr. Johnson's attorneys. The alleged records originate from the Office of the State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. On January 9, 1997, the court held a hearing on the motion. During the hearing, CCR represented that on December 16, 1996 (two months after the amended rule 3.850 motion was filed), an investigator went to the Attorney General's Office in Tampa to inspect public records relating to the defendant. During the search, CCR discovered numerous original documents from the state attorney's office for the Thirteenth Circuit. Both assistant state attorney Karen Cox, who handles public records requests for the Thirteenth Circuit, and Candace Sabella, the assistant attorney general assigned to the defendant's case, represented that they had no knowledge of the records prior to December, 1996. Although CCR's delay in examining the records at the attorney general's office was inexcusable, this court permitted CCR to amend the rule 3.850 motion based upon the newly discovered information. CCR filed an amended motion on January 28, 1997. The amended motion did not raise any new claims for relief, but made references to the materials recently discovered. This court accepted the amended motion and allowed CCR to utilize the new material to support any of the claims for relief. An evidentiary hearing was held on March 3, 4 and 5, 1997. State v. Johnson order at 3-4. The circuit court concluded that the public records issue had been litigated fully and denied further relief. Johnson cites to Ventura v. State, 673 So.2d 479 (Fla.1996), for the proposition that the circuit court should have allowed Johnson sixty days to review the newly discovered records. In Ventura, however, the State had affirmatively withheld the records being sought. Id. at 481. Here, there has been no showing that the state attorney's files were intentionally concealed. Furthermore, the record reflects that the Attorney General's office had procedures for reviewing its files in October 1995 and that its records were made available during the public records hearings held in July 1996. Notwithstanding Johnson's delay in examining the files, the circuit court permitted Johnson to raise any new claims discovered in these records as late as February 8, 1997, and to use any evidence discovered in support of his rule 3.850 claims at the March 3, 1997, evidentiary hearing. Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in the circuit court's refusal to allow Johnson additional time to review the records. Similarly, Johnson's claim that records are missing and that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of public records is also without merit. Johnson argues that records obtained from the Hillsborough County state attorney's office are incomplete because records that should and routinely exist had not been provided and because records contain references to interviews, but no documents regarding these interviews were provided. Johnson also argues that the testimony of Cox, the records custodian, was inadequate to ensure that all the records had been provided because Cox had no personal knowledge of how the records were searched. The postconviction motion and the record conclusively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief. In Downs v. State, 740 So.2d 506, 510 (Fla.1999), the defendant argued that an evidentiary hearing should have been held based on his allegation that a sheriff's office file was relatively small and the fact that the record custodian testified that he had no personal knowledge as to whether each department within the sheriff's office had complied with the disclosure request. Id. This Court found that the fact that the records custodian did not know whether all the documents requested were given to him for disclosure, standing alone, did not mean that additional records existed. Id. at 511. This Court also found that, considering the State's and sheriff's assertion that all records had been provided and the absence of any colorable claim that records existed, the motion for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of public records was properly denied. Id. In accord with Downs, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in denying Johnson an evidentiary hearing or additional discovery based on Johnson's bare allegations that additional records should exist. The State and Cox indicated that all records had been provided. Cox testified at the January 9, 1997, hearing that while she did not physically check the records herself, she indicated that the procedure used to check records was that a request would be made of the records center. Cox testified that this procedure was followed, and those parties indicated that no additional records existed. The fact that Cox did not physically check the records herself does not raise a colorable claim that records exist. Id. See also Mendyk v. State, 707 So.2d 320 (Fla.1997). Accordingly, we find no merit in this claim.