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[W] Spencer v. State4/11/2002
aims that the prosecutor misstated Dr. Lipman's testimony and gave the jurors the impression that Spencer remembered stabbing the victim by arguing that "Dusty Spencer gave statements to Dr. Lipman that he had stabbed Karen [Spencer] before Tim [Johnson] left." The lower court found the claim to be without merit and that counsel was not deficient for failing to object to this statement.
Our review of the trial record shows that the prosecutor made this statement in the context of arguing that the victim received all of her injuries while she was alive and that Johnson was confused about whether his mother had been stabbed before he left the scene. While Dr. Lipman testified on direct examination that Spencer did not actually remember using the knife, he also testified that, in Spencer's "own words," when Spencer "came out of a blackout" he had a knife in his hand, Johnson was pulling his mother away and stating that Spencer had killed her, the victim had blood coming out of her mouth, and Johnson then ran off down the road. When Dr. Lipman was asked on cross-examination whether Spencer told him "that he remembered that [the victim] was stabbed before Tim left," Dr. Lipman replied "right."
As the lower court noted, a fair reading of the transcript and Spencer's statement to Dr. Lipman indicates that Spencer stabbed the victim before the son left, which was the point of the prosecutor's argument. We conclude that the prosecutor did not intend this statement as an indication that Spencer actually remembered the stabbing. Thus, Spencer is not entitled to relief on this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.
In issue four, Spencer asserts that the State committed a Brady violation by failing to disclose that a reserve deputy sheriff assisted in the investigation of Spencer's first attack on the victim. At the evidentiary hearing, reserve Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Anthony testified that he was present and assisted Deputy Ronald Weyland, who testified at trial, in responding and investigating the "iron incident."
Anthony testified that Karen Spencer made a statement to the deputies after being treated by the doctors at the hospital. According to Anthony, Karen stated that Spencer had hit her with something, but she did not know what the object was. Anthony also testified that no one from Spencer's defense team spoke to him before trial. On cross examination, Anthony testified that Deputy Weyland actually wrote the police report, that Weyland was present during the time that Anthony was with Karen, and that Anthony's name appeared in the report as one of the responding officers. Anthony further testified that he could not have offered any testimony different from that given by Deputy Weyland at trial.
A defendant must demonstrate the following elements before a violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), has been proven: (1) the evidence at issue is favorable to the accused, either because it is exculpatory, or because it is impeaching; (2) the evidence has been suppressed by the State, either wilfully or inadvertently; and (3) the defendant has been prejudiced by the suppression of this evidence. See Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-82 (1999); Way v. State, 760 So. 2d 903, 910 (Fla. 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1155 (2001); Thompson v. State, 759 So. 2d 650, 662 (Fla. 2000). A defendant is prejudiced by the suppression of exculpatory evidence if it is material, in other words if "there is a `reasonable probability' that the result of the trial would have been different if the suppressed documents had been disclosed to the defense." Strickler, 527 U.S. at 289.
The lower court concluded that no Brady violation occurred in
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