Opinion ID: 1828411
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior Violent Felony Aggravating Factor

Text: In his second habeas claim, Owen argues that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to argue on direct appeal that the trial judge erred by denying Owen's request to stipulate that he confessed to the prior violent felonies; allowing evidence of the prior felonies to become the feature of the penalty phase; allowing Captain McCoy to testify as to hearsay statements made by a Dr. Davis relating to injuries suffered by two of Owen's prior victims, Ms. Manley and Ms. Simpson; and allowing Captain McCoy to testify as to hearsay statements made by John Ettinger relating to the Worden murder. We find that appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise these three issues on direct appeal because the issues in all probability would have been found to be without merit. First, the trial court did not err in denying Owen's motion to exclude details of the prior violent felonies. This Court rejected a similar argument in Cox v. State, 819 So.2d 705, 716 (Fla.2002), where the Court found that the holdings of Old Chief [v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997),] and Brown [v. State, 719 So.2d 882 (Fla.1998),] are not properly analogized to this capital sentencing proceeding, where `the point at issue' is much more than just the defendant's `legal status.' Second, the trial court did not err in allowing the State to present evidence of Owen's three prior violent felonies through Captain McCoy, who investigated the prior felonies. Through Captain McCoy, the State entered into evidence the judgment and sentence for the noncapital felonies, the judgment for the capital felony, and videotaped conversations between Owen and Captain McCoy relating to the crimes. The videotapes ran for approximately one hour and ten minutes and were edited to avoid discussion of uncharged crimes. Evidence concerning the circumstances of a prior violent felony conviction is admissible in a capital sentencing proceeding. Finney v. State, 660 So.2d 674, 683 (Fla.1995). In determining whether a trial court has abused its discretion in admitting evidence of prior violent felony convictions, this Court looks at the tenor of the witnesses' testimony and whether this testimony became a central feature of the penalty phase. Franklin v. State, 965 So.2d 79, 96 (Fla.2007). In Franklin, the Court found that the evidence relating to the prior felonies could not be deemed the central feature of the penalty phase because the State presented testimony and evidence to establish each of the aggravating circumstances, including the testimony of Franklin's parole supervisor to establish that the murder was committed while Franklin was under imprisonment and the testimony of codefendant McCoy to establish that the murder was CCP and committed for pecuniary gain. 965 So.2d at 96-97. In the instant case, Captain McCoy's testimony, including the playing of the videotapes, took less than one day of the two-and-a-half-day penalty phase. In addition to Captain McCoy, the State called a medical examiner to testify regarding the HAC aggravating factor and two mental health experts to rebut the defense's mitigation case. Had this issue been raised on direct appeal, we would have found that the evidence relating to the prior violent felonies was not impermissibly made the central feature of the penalty phase because the State's penalty-phase presentation was comparatively brief, addressed all relevant aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and was not unduly inflammatory. Third, Owen was not deprived of a fair opportunity to rebut hearsay testimony during his penalty phase. Hearsay testimony is ordinarily admissible during the penalty phase of a trial, provided the defendant has a fair opportunity to rebut any hearsay testimony. Rodriguez v. State, 753 So.2d 29, 44 (Fla.2000). Review of the trial record reveals that contrary to Owen's petition, no out-of-court statements made by John Ettinger were introduced through Captain McCoy. Two brief statements about injuries suffered by Ms. Manley and Ms. Simpson, one made by a Dr. Davis, were admitted. However, Owen had a fair opportunity to rebut these statements. This case is similar to Evans v. State, 838 So.2d 1090, 1097 (Fla.2002), where this Court rejected Evans' argument that he was not afforded a fair opportunity to rebut the hearsay contained in presentence investigation reports concerning his prior conviction because he could not cross-examine the person who prepared the reports. We found no error because the transcripts of the prior trials were available to rebut any inaccuracies in the reports. Id. Like Evans, Owen could have used the transcripts of his prior trials to rebut the statements about the injuries suffered by Manley and Simpson. Moreover, Owen argues that the prosecutor could have readily called these witnesses, but he does not explain why he could not have called the declarants to rebut the hearsay statements. As explained in Bowles v. State, 804 So.2d 1173, 1184 (Fla. 2001), when a defendant challenges the admission of hearsay testimony during a penalty phase, this Court examines whether the defendant had the opportunity to rebut the hearsaythat the defendant did not or could not rebut this testimony does not make it inadmissible. Finally, even if admission of the hearsay was error, such error was harmless because the prior violent felony aggravating factor was unambiguously established by the admission of three convictions and Owen's taped confessions to those crimes. See id. (holding any error in admitting hearsay was harmless where certified copy of prior conviction conclusively established prior violent felony aggravating factor and five aggravating factors overwhelmingly outweighed mitigating factors). Also in his second habeas claim, Owen argues that his appellate counsel was ineffective for not challenging on appeal the denial of Owen's motion to exclude evidence of his conviction of attempted first-degree murder of Marilee Manley. Owen argues that the conviction should have been excluded because the Manley jury was instructed both on the theory of attempted premeditated murder and attempted felony murder. We find that Owen's argument is without merit. In State v. Gray, 654 So.2d 552 (Fla. 1995), this Court held that there is no criminal offense of attempted felony murder. In Valentine v. State, 688 So.2d 313, 317 (Fla.1996), this Court held that a conviction for attempted first-degree murder must be reversed where the jury was instructed on attempted first-degree felony murder and attempted first-degree premeditated murder, and the verdict fails to state on which ground the jury relied. While acknowledging that this Court held that Gray was not retroactive in State v. Woodley, 695 So.2d 297 (Fla.1997), Owen's motion argued that the Manley conviction should not have been introduced as an aggravating factor because the crime of attempted felony murder no longer existed at the time of Owen's 1999 sentencing in the Slattery case. This argument is without merit. In order to state a claim under Johnson v. Mississippi, 486 U.S. 578, 108 S.Ct. 1981, 100 L.Ed.2d 575 (1988), in which the Supreme Court held that the state court erred in concluding that the reversal of a conviction used as an aggravating circumstance did not affect the validity of the death sentence, a defendant must show that the conviction on which the prior violent felony aggravator is based has been reversed. Phillips v. State, 894 So.2d 28, 36 (Fla.2004). Owen concedes that his conviction for attempted first-degree murder of Manley has not been reversed. Thus, the trial court did not err in denying Owen's motion to exclude the conviction, and appellate counsel was not ineffective for not raising the issue on appeal.