SC10-602 – Nicholas Agatheas v. State of Florida

State: Florida

Docket No: SC10-602

Case Date: 12/15/2011

Preview:Supreme Court of Florida
____________ No. SC10-602 ____________ NICHOLAS AGATHEAS, Petitioner, vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, Respondent. [December 15, 2011] PER CURIAM. Nicholas Agatheas seeks review of Agatheas v. State, 28 So. 3d 204 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal denied Agatheass claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and fundamental error with respect to the admission of a 45-caliber revolver. The Fourth District held that the trial court properly admitted the 45-caliber revolver, which was recovered from Agatheas when he was arrested five years after the murder--even though the revolver was indisputably not connected to the crime. The Fourth District concluded that because the revolver was properly admitted, both Agatheass ineffective assistance of counsel claim and his fundamental error claim failed. In holding that a gun

unrelated to the crime was admissible, the Fourth Districts decision is in express and direct conflict with the Fifth District Court of Appeals decision in Moore v. State, 1 So. 3d 1177 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). In Moore, the Fifth District held that the trial court erred in denying Moores ineffective assistance of counsel claim where her trial counsel failed to object to the admission of a firearm recovered from Moores house as well as photographs of several other firearms, none of which was connected to the charged crime. We have jurisdiction. See art. V,

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