Opinion ID: 1695263
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lawrence Francis Lewis

Text: Lewis was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by Judge Stanton S. Kaplan of the Broward County Circuit Court. The conviction and sentence were affirmed in Lewis v. State, 572 So.2d 908 (Fla. 1990), cert. denied, 501 U.S. 1259, 111 S.Ct. 2914, 115 L.Ed.2d 1077 (1991). In 1992, Lewis filed a 3.850 motion before Judge Kaplan, but sought to disqualify the judge from presiding over the proceeding by asserting that Judge Kaplan: (1) had a personal relationship with Lewis's trial counsel; (2) harbored an animosity towards Lewis; (3) made inappropriate remarks while being interviewed on a television news program; and (4) had a conflict of interest based on the funding methods of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (which includes Broward County). [1] Judge Kaplan granted Lewis's motion and disqualified himself. Thereafter, Lewis caused the judge to be served with a witness subpoena for the purpose of taking his deposition. [2] The trial court denied the State's motion to quash the subpoena, the State sought review, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal transferred the case to this Court.