Lukehart v. State, 70 So. 3d 503

Lukehart was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, and sentenced to death for the murder; the conviction arose from the 1996 death of five-month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw in Jacksonville, Florida.
At trial, Lukehart testified he accidentally caused the baby’s death during handling and disposed of the body after panicking; the jury also heard police and medical examiner testimony about head injuries and number of blows.
On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and death sentence, remanding for resentencing on the aggravated child abuse conviction and for a complete sentencing guidelines scoresheet.
Lukehart pursued postconviction relief under Florida Rule 3.850, asserting numerous claims including ineffective assistance of counsel, suppression issues, and related procedural errors; an evidentiary hearing was conducted on one principal claim (ineffective assistance during guilt and penalty phases).
The postconviction court denied most claims; the trial court denied the ineffective assistance claims largely on reasonable-strategy grounds; Lukehart challenged the timing and relation back of his amended motion.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the postconviction court’s denial of Rule 3.850 relief overall, with one reversal on the relation-back issue, and denied habeas relief on the underlying claims not material to relief.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Relation back of amended motion	Shell motion pending; amendments relate back per Bryant/Spera.	Rule 3.850 governs; the amendment did not relate back.	Amendment related back to original shell filing.
Prior violent felony aggravator and mitigation	Counsel ineffective for not presenting Page’s testimony to mitigate aggravator.	Counsel’s performance reasonable; evidence would not have altered outcome.	No prejudice; strategic choice reasonable; no ineffective assistance shown.
Failure to present Dr. Krop during guilt phase	Dr. Krop’s testimony could have impacted guilt-phase strategy.	Strategic choice to avoid risk of opening damaging evidence; testimony cumulative.	Not ineffective; reasonable trial strategy supported by record.
Baker Act suppression claim	Detention under Baker Act used pretext to arrest; statements should be suppressed.	Detention not custodial arrest; suppression not warranted; statutory rule lacks remedy for violation absent constitutional violation.	No suppression remedy; no constitutional violation shown; no prejudice.
Improper jury instructions and prosecutorial comments	Faults in felony-murder instruction and State's emphasis on ‘intent’ prejudiced verdict.	Instructions and comments were proper; not error or only harmless; preserved issues were adjudicated on direct appeal.	No reversible error; no deficient performance established.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-pronged standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Maxwell v. Wainwright, 490 So.2d 927 (Fla. 1986) (defendant must show both performance and prejudice)
Sochor v. State, 883 So.2d 766 (Fla. 2004) (mixed standard of review for fact and law)
Occhicone v. State, 768 So.2d 1037 (Fla. 2000) (deference to trial strategy when reasonable)
Hartley v. State, 990 So.2d 1008 (Fla. 2008) (shell motion and relate-back considerations in postconviction)
Bryant v. State, 901 So.2d 810 (Fla. 2005) (amendment relates back to original filing under Rule 1.190)
Spera v. State, 971 So.2d 754 (Fla. 2007) (relating amended postconviction claims back to shell filing)
Gaskin v. State, 822 So.2d 1243 (Fla. 2002) (trial counsel not deficient for strategic decisions)