Opinion ID: 1587240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Failure to Challenge the Legal Sufficiency of the Burglary Charge

Text: In Bradley's third claim, he asserts that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the legal basis for the burglary charge in the trial court in order to preserve that issue for appellate review. He claims that trial counsel failed to preserve a cognizable issue based on available evidence challenging the legal sufficiency of the burglary charge, similar to the issue preserved and decided in Delgado v. State, 776 So.2d 233 (Fla.2000). Bradley argues that this failure to preserve the issue made it impossible for him to challenge and correct that error on direct appeal to this Court. By this argument, he suggests that on direct appeal, this Court would have found no burglary conviction, and thus no felony murder, possible based on the holding in Delgado, which was issued prior to the conclusion of Bradley's appeal in 2001. Bradley's crimes were committed in 1995 and he was tried in 1997. At that time, it was settled law that a defendant could be convicted of burglary if the defendant was an invited guest who, after gaining consensual entry into the victim's residence, began committing criminal acts against the host, because the law presumed the initial consent to enter had been revoked by those criminal acts. [17] In 2000, this Court receded from previous opinions holding that crimes committed against the host after an initial consensual entry resulted in an implied revocation of the initial consent to enter. Instead, this Court held in Delgado that in order to prove burglary after an initial consensual entry, the evidence must show that the defendant remained in the structure surreptitiously. See Delgado, 776 So.2d at 240-41. Shortly after the decision in Delgado, the Florida Legislature enacted legislation abrogating that decision, and clarifying that for a burglary to occur, it is not necessary for the licensed or invited person to remain in the dwelling, structure or conveyance surreptitiously. [18] Nevertheless, the window for those affected by Delgado was defined by this Court in Lynch v. State, 2 So.3d 47, 61 (Fla.2008), as applying to burglaries committed before February 1, 2000, which had not been finally adjudicated at the time this Court issued its opinion in that case (i.e., August 24, 2000). Bradley's case fits within that time frame. Even so, as explained below, we find no merit to this claim. Bradley cannot show deficiency for the same reasons that he cannot show prejudice. Therefore, we combine our discussion of Bradley's arguments into one discussion of both prongs of Strickland.