& SC16-481 Harrel Franklin Braddy v. State of Florida and Harrel Franklin Braddy v. Julie L. Jones, etc., 219 So. 3d 803

Background

In 2007 Braddy was convicted of first-degree murder and related crimes for the abduction and death of a child, and the jury recommended death 11–1; the trial court imposed death after finding five aggravators.
On direct appeal this Court affirmed convictions and sentence; CCRC-South was later appointed for postconviction proceedings.
Braddy filed a Rule 3.851 postconviction motion raising multiple claims (conflict of counsel, public-records access, ineffective assistance at guilt phase, juror misconduct, Hurst-based relief, and others); the postconviction court denied relief.
CCRC sought to withdraw because a supervising CCRC attorney had previously approved plea paperwork in an earlier case used as a prior-felony aggravator; Braddy sought discharge of counsel pro se.
Braddy sought additional public records (sealed box materials and personnel/internal-affairs files of police/criminalists); the court denied most requests as irrelevant or non-public.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed denial of guilt-phase relief, granted relief on Hurst grounds (finding Florida’s prior sentencing scheme unconstitutional under Hurst v. Florida and this Court’s Hurst remand decision), vacated the death sentence, and remanded for a new penalty phase.

Issues

Issue	Braddy's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether CCRC had an actual conflict and whether Nelson hearings were required	Dupree’s prior supervisory role in prosecutor’s office created an actual conflict that impaired representation	Any conflict was speculative or did not adversely affect performance; Braddy failed to show prejudice or request evidentiary proof	No reversible error; no actual adverse effect shown, denial of withdrawal and refusal to hold Nelson hearings not abuse of discretion
Whether statute/rule (public records) were unconstitutionally applied denying access to records	Section 119.19 and Rule 3.852 denied Braddy access to sealed materials and personnel/internal affairs files relevant to claims	Many materials were attorney work product, drafts, or irrelevant; requests were overbroad and speculative	Denial was not an abuse of discretion; most items were nonpublic work product or not shown relevant to a colorable claim
Whether trial counsel was ineffective at guilt phase (failure to object to prosecutor comments; failure to retain experts)	Counsel’s failures prejudiced the adversarial testing and could have changed outcome	Alleged comments were considered on direct appeal and not fundamental error; failure to hire experts was insufficiently pleaded and not prejudicial given overwhelming evidence	Ineffective-assistance claims denied: no Strickland prejudice shown; guilt-phase convictions affirmed
Whether Hurst v. Florida entitles Braddy to relief	Braddy argued his sentence was imposed under the unconstitutional judge-found-fact scheme and jury recommendation was nonunanimous	State argued harmlessness or other procedural bars	Hurst (and this Court’s Hurst remand precedent) applied retroactively; nonunanimous jury recommendation required vacatur of death sentence and a new penalty phase

Key Cases Cited

Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016) (U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating Florida’s judge-found-fact death penalty scheme)
Hurst v. State, 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016) (Florida Supreme Court on remand: jury must unanimously find all facts necessary to impose death)
Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002) (right to jury findings for death-penalty aggravators)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong ineffective-assistance standard: performance and prejudice)
Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335 (1980) (standard for conflicts of counsel: actual conflict that adversely affects performance)
Mickens v. Taylor, 535 U.S. 162 (2002) (prejudice presumed only where conflict significantly affected counsel’s performance)
Shevin v. Byron, Harless, Schaffer, Reid & Assocs., Inc., 379 So.2d 633 (Fla. 1980) (test for what constitutes a public record under Florida law)