JEREMIAH M. RODGERS, Appellant, vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
No. SC19-241
Supreme Court of Florida
November 21, 2019
Jeremiah M. Rodgers, a prisoner under sentence of death, who now goes by the name Jenna Rodgers, appeals the circuit court‘s summary denial of a successive postconviction motion filed pursuant to
“[T]o be considered timely filed as newly discovered evidence, the successive rule 3.851 motion was required to have been filed within one year of the date upon which the claim became discoverable through due diligence.” Jimenez v. State, 997 So. 2d 1056, 1064 (Fla. 2008); see also
Moreover, even without the time bar, the summary denial was proper because the evidence at issue is not newly discovered. Generally, to prevail on a newly discovered evidence claim, two requirements must be met: “(1) the evidence must not have been known by the trial court, the party, or counsel at the time of trial, and it must appear that the defendant or defense counsel could not have known of it by the use of diligence; and (2) the newly discovered evidence must be of such a nature that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial.” Reed v. State, 116 So. 3d 260, 264 (Fla. 2013) (citing Jones v. State (Jones II), 709 So. 2d 512, 521 (Fla. 1998)).
As detailed in Justice Pariente‘s concurring in result opinion in Rodgers IV, the record conclusively establishes that Rodgers’ symptoms that are now attributed to gender dysphoria (e.g., severe depression, self-mutilation, reported suicidality) were known to the courts that accepted and affirmed the validity of Rodgers’ plea and waivers. See Rodgers IV, 242 So. 3d at 277 (Pariente, J., concurring in result) (“[B]oth the trial court and this Court were aware of Rodgers’ long history of mental illness in determining Rodgers’ competency to make the waivers and in reviewing Rodgers’ waivers, respectively . . . .“); see also id. at 278-80 (detailing the “record indicating severe mental illness” in Rodgers’ case). The medical community‘s subsequent assignment of a name to the cause of known symptoms is not newly discovered evidence, but even assuming that it could be, the record conclusively establishes that Rodgers failed to diligently pursue this claim. As explained above, Rodgers became aware of the gender dysphoria diagnosis at some point between February 2016 and January 2017 and alleged that gender dysphoria caused incompetency in a January 2017 successive postconviction motion, but waited until December 2018 to raise a newly discovered evidence claim predicated upon gender dysphoria. This falls short of the due diligence that Jones II requires.
Accordingly, because Rodgers’ motion is time-barred and, in any event, not based upon newly discovered evidence, we affirm the circuit court‘s summary denial. In so doing, we note that because Rodgers validly waived postconviction proceedings and counsel, future filings should not be made on Rodgers’ behalf in the circuit court without first seeking leave from the circuit court and explaining how the appointment of counsel and the proposed filing are authorized in light of Rodgers’ valid waiver.
It is so ordered.
CANADY, C.J., and POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, LAGOA, and MUÑIZ, JJ., concur.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court in and for Santa Rosa County, John Franklin Simon, Jr., Judge - Case No. 571998CF000274XXAXMX
Terri L. Backhus, Chief, and Kimberly Sharkey, Attorney, Capital Habeas Unit, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellant
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Charmaine M. Millsaps, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Appellee