Opinion ID: 1587240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Deficiency and Prejudice

Text: Bradley contends that trial counsel should have challenged the legal sufficiency of the burglary charge at trial, thereby preserving that issue for appeal. His argument has two component parts. First, Bradley asserts that trial counsel should have challenged the burglary charge at trial on the grounds that, because Mrs. Jones was a coinhabitant and co-owner, she had the authority to consent to the initial entry of the coconspirators, and consent is a defense to burglary. Second, Bradley argues that had counsel preserved a challenge to the burglary charge, Bradley would not have been barred from raising a Delgado claim on direct appeal in this Court, and he would likely have been able to eliminate his burglary/felony-murder conviction on appeal under the law announced in Delgado. [19] We address these arguments in turn. First, we note that had trial counsel challenged the burglary charge on the grounds that because Mrs. Jones was a coinhabitant she had the authority to consent to the initial entry of the coconspirators, the trial court would likely have rejected that contention because it was then and still is contrary to established case law. Long before Bradley's trial, we held that a coconspirator who shares the residence with the victim cannot provide consent to enter on behalf of the victim for the purposes of committing a crime against the victim. See, e.g. Fotopoulos v. State, 608 So.2d 784 (Fla.1992) (holding that Fotopoulos had no moral or legal authority to give his hired murderer consent to enter Fotopoulos's wife's residence even though Fotopoulos also lived there); Damico v. State, 153 Fla. 850, 16 So.2d 43 (1944) (holding that the corporate officer who had left the corporate safe open for Damico had no legal or moral right to consent to Damico's entry, nor could he consent to the crime on behalf of the corporation); see also K.P.M. v. State, 446 So.2d 723 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (holding that the son's purported consent to enter the residence to steal the father's valuables was unauthorized and inoperative even though the son lived with the father). Under this existing case law relating to consent, Bradley's claim that he had valid initial consent from Mrs. Jones to enter the residence is without merit. Thus, trial counsel cannot be deemed deficient for failing to raise a nonmeritorious legal theory. Thompson v. State, 759 So.2d 650, 665 (Fla.2000) (stating that counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise meritless issues). Further, to the extent Bradley's argument can be understood as contending that trial counsel should have predicted the merits of Delgado and should have preserved a similar issue for appeal, that argument fails as well. Trial counsel could hardly be expected to predict this Court's decision to recede from the long-standing body of prior case law holding that crimes committed against the host after an initial consensual entry resulted in an implied revocation of the consent to enter. As we held in Muhammad v. State, 426 So.2d 533, 538 (Fla.1982), counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to predict a later Supreme Court decision. Id. at 538 (concluding that postconviction counsel's assertion that trial counsel was ineffective was without merit because it presupposed that counsel should have predicted a later United States Supreme Court decision). Next, addressing the second argument, even if trial counsel had challenged the legal sufficiency of the burglary charge at trial and preserved that claim for appeal, Bradley's Delgado argument would not have prevailed because Bradley's case is distinguishable on the facts. In Delgado, it was uncontested that the husband and wife invited Delgado into their house, and the significant issue was whether that initial consent was considered withdrawn by Delgado's subsequent crimes, in order to prove a burglary under the statute. The Court stated: The issue for this court to consider is whether the phrase `remaining in' found in Florida's burglary statute should be limited to situations where the suspect enters lawfully and subsequently secretes himself or herself from the host. Up until now, Florida courts have refused to make such a limiting interpretation. Id. at 238. We resolved the issue by holding that the statute required that where a defendant had initial consent to enter, he or she had to remain surreptitiously in order for a burglary to be proven. This holding departed from prior precedent that held initial consent was impliedly revoked by subsequent criminal acts of the guest. Because in the instant case, under Fotopoulos and the other cited cases, Bradley and the McWhites never had initial consent to enter, the holding in Delgado would have provided no relief to Bradley on appeal. [20] Moreover, even if it could be said that Mrs. Jones invited the assailants into the house, once Mr. Jones saw them enter his home, he immediately rose from his chair and ordered the intruders to get out. Thus, any consent was expressly revoked prior to the assailants' opportunity to begin their attack on Mr. Jones. We never intended our decision in Delgado to imply that a coinhabitant or co-owner could irrevocably consent to entry by his or her coconspirators for the purpose of subjecting the other inhabitant or owner to a crime. Finally, even if Bradley had been able to defeat the burglary charge and the resultant felony-murder conviction, either in the trial court or on appeal, the first-degree premeditated murder conviction would still have remained. In this case, the State argued that both felony-murder and premeditated murder theories were applicable to the crime, and the jury delivered a general verdict. We have held that a general guilty verdict rendered by a jury instructed on both first-degree murder alternatives may be upheld on appeal where the evidence is sufficient to establish either felony murder or premeditation. Crain v. State, 894 So.2d 59, 73 (Fla.2004). In the direct appeal decision in this case, we stated that [u]pon review of the record, and taking the inferences most favorable to the State, we conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding of premeditation by Bradley. Bradley, 787 So.2d at 738. Thus, for the reasons set forth above, we conclude that counsel's performance was not deficient, and even if it were, there is no reasonable probability that had counsel acted otherwise the result of the proceeding would have been different. Since our confidence in the outcome has not been undermined, no prejudice has been shown. Because neither the deficiency nor the prejudice prong of Strickland has been established, we conclude Bradley's claim that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to challenge the burglary charge in order to preserve the issue for appeal is without merit.