State of Florida v. Rubin Goodson

Tallahassee, Florida, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with murder.

Reported by: Kent Morlan

Rbein Goodson was charged with first degree murder.

This court has long held that the state cannot supplement the record in an appeal of an order summarily denying a postconviction motion with the portion of the trial record that supports the postconviction court’s ruling. See, e.g., Thames v. State, 454 So. 2d 1061, 1065 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); see also St. Cyr v. State, 126 So. 3d 1166 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012); Griffin v. State, 573 So. 2d 979 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). Nor can the State simply provide
the appellate court with an appendix that demonstrates the propriety of the summary denial. McClain v. State, 629 So. 2d 320
(Fla. 1st DCA 1993); Bennett v. State, 946 So. 2d 84, 85 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). In other words, the State cannot overcome the postconviction court’s error in failing to attach records either by supplementing the record with the missing documents or by
providing those records to us in an appendix to its response. If the State is prohibited from taking those actions, then it should not be
able to accomplish the same thing simply by asking us to “take judicial notice” of the missing documents.

When a denial of a postconviction claim is “based on the records in the case,” the postconviction court must attach to its
order “that portion of the files and records that conclusively shows that the defendant is entitled to no relief[.]” Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(h)(5).

Convicted.

Post Conviction relief denied.