Kenneth Darcell QUINCE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Robert G. Udell, Stuart and Russell F. Canan, Washington, D.C., for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and W. Brian Bayly, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Appellant, Kenneth Quince, was indicted for the first-degree murder, burglary and sexual battery of an eighty-two year old woman. He pleaded guilty and was convicted of first-degree felony murder and burglary. He waived a sentencing jury, *536 and the trial court imposed the death sentence. This Court affirmed the imposition of the death penalty. Quince v. State,
Appellant first argues that he was deprived of his right to know and to contest the contents of his presentence investigation report (PSI) as required by Gardner v. Florida,
As his next point, appellant argues that the trial court erred in allowing the state to introduce his prior juvenile adjudications at the sentencing hearing in order to negate the statutory mitigating factor of no significant history of prior criminal activity. He contends his convictions were invalid because they were obtained without a valid waiver of counsel. This issue was considered on direct appeal and was affirmed. Quince v. State,
Appellant's third point, citing Estelle v. Smith,
Appellant's fourth point, properly raised on a rule 3.850 motion, is that his trial counsel was ineffective at both phases of trial. To prevail, he must meet the two-part test of Strickland v. Washington,
First, the defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the "counsel" guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.
Id.,
Appellant contends that counsel was ineffective in various respects, including: spending insufficient time conferring with appellant; not contacting friends and relatives; not attempting to suppress appellant's confessions; not demanding discovery; persuading appellant to plead *537 guilty and waive the right to an advisory sentencing jury; not researching the admissibility of appellant's juvenile records; not researching the applicability of the aggravating circumstances in a felony murder context in which the underlying felony is a sexual battery with a concomitant burglary; not adequately reviewing appellant's PSI with him and objecting to irrelevancies contained therein; not objecting to the state's introduction of psychiatric reports based on examinations administered without Miranda warnings; not calling various witnesses he might have called to adduce evidence of nonstatutory mitigating factors. As was the case in Jent v. State,
In his order denying the 3.850 motion, the trial court stated: "This Court specifically finds there was no specific omission or overt act that was a substantial and serious deficiency, measurably below that of competent counsel. Given the totality of the circumstances, Mr. Pearl rendered reasonably effective counsel." We agree with the trial court. The record supports the conclusion that appellant has failed to meet the first part of the Strickland test.
Appellant argues that the death penalty in Florida is imposed in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner. We have rejected this argument. State v. Henry,
Appellant's final argument is that he was denied a full and fair evidentiary hearing because the trial court refused to appoint certain experts and investigators. We reject this point. This claim is speculative and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to appoint experts. See Martin v. State,
The judgment of the trial court denying appellant's motion for post-conviction relief is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
BOYD, C.J., and ADKINS, OVERTON, McDONALD, EHRLICH and SHAW, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Miranda v. Arizona,
