SC02-803 State of Florida v. Henry Alexander Davis

State: Florida

Docket No: SC02-803

Case Date: 02/19/2004

Preview:Supreme Court of Florida
____________ Nos. SC02-803 & SC03-186 ____________

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, vs. HENRY ALEXANDER DAVIS, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

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HENRY ALEXANDER DAVIS, Petitioner, vs. JAMES V. CROSBY, JR., ETC., Respondent. [February 19, 2004] PER CURIAM. This case comes to us as a State appeal of a trial court order granting a new penalty phase on Davis's motion for postconviction relief, a cross-appeal by Davis

of the denial by the trial court of a new guilt phase, and a petition by Davis for a writ of habeas corpus. 1 The trial court ordered a new penalty phase after concluding that Davis's trial counsel was ineffective in failing to adequately investigate and present evidence of Davis's brain damage and background, and in failing to assert the statutory "age" mitigator. We do not reach this issue, and instead conclude that a new guilt phase is warranted because the blatant expressions of racial prejudice by trial counsel in this case constitute ineffective assistance of counsel that affected the fairness and reliability of the proceedings to such an extent that our confidence in the outcome is undermined. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The facts pertinent to the issue we decide today are as follows. Davis, an African-American male who was 22 at the time, was accused of stabbing to death Joyce Ezell, a 73-year-old white woman, in the foyer of Ezell's house in Lake Wales on March 18, 1987. Davis was arrested two days after the murder. Two other attorneys preceded trial counsel in representing Davis on these charges. In preparing his defense, Davis's first lawyer visited the home of Davis's family, where a relative asked him about Davis's seizures, a condition of which the attorney had

1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V,

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