Grossman v. Dugger’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 7 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Grossman claims as his first issue in his habeas petition that appellate counsel provided ineffective representation in a number-of ways. (A) He claims that appellate counsel should have argued that the trial court’s sentencing order was insufficiently specific. A review of the order, however, shows that it comports with the law that was in effect at that time. (B) He asserts that appellate counsel should have claimed prosecutorial misconduct. This issue was not preserved since trial counsel failed to object to the allegedly improper statements. (C) He asserts that appellate counsel should have argued more convincingly that Florida’s capital sentencing statute is unconstitutional. This claim is procedurally barred — it was raised on direct appeal. (D) He asserts that appellate counsel should have argued that the death penalty is imposed in an arbitrary fashion. This claim is procedurally barred — it was raised on direct appeal. (E) He claims that appellate counsel should have argued that the HAC instruction was vague. This issue was not preserved. Although trial counsel objected on vagueness grounds to the HAC aggravating circumstance pretrial, he did not object to the proposed instruction at trial except on the ground that the evidence did not support it; nor did he propose an alternative instruction. Appellate counsel cannot be faulted. Ferguson v. Singletary, 632 So.2d 53 (Fla.1993).(F) Grossman claims that appellate counsel should have argued that codefendant Taylor’s acq”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 774 So. 2d 637 - Rutherford v. Moore · 359 F. Supp. 2d 1233 - Grossman v. Crosby

2. “The Court has evaluated the conduct of the Defendant’s counsel from counsel’s perspective at the time of the trial. Defendant introduced thirty-three affidavits that were represented as possible mitigation witnesses that were available at the time of trial but were not used by the defense. Several of the possible witnesses represented by the affidavits were known to the defense, and the defense had determined not to use them. Defense counsel, Mr. McCoun, at the time of trial recognized that while trying to present a favorable picture of the Defendant, equally negative things would also be presented. Mr. McCoun did not want to use witnesses who would say that the Defendant was into stealing and heavy drug use. Moreover, defense counsel called three mitigating witnesses in addition to the Defendant’s mother. The mitigating witnesses that were called had close contact with the defendant near the time that he committed the crime; whereas, many of the potential witnesses that were represented by the affidavits had not seen the Defendant in years. The Court finds that Mr. McCoun did a competent, effective job of representing the Defendant at all phases of the trial. Even if counsel were deemed ineffective for the reasons stated by the Defendant, such alleged ineffectiveness did not come close to being so prejudicial to the Defendant that it affected the outcome of the case. The facts of this case showed the Defendant’s conduct to be so egregious that proof of mitigating circumstanc”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Grossman v. McDonough · 359 F. Supp. 2d 1233 - Grossman v. Crosby

3. “Defendant states that Charles Brewer, a trusty at the Pinellas County Jail while Defendant was being held there awaiting trial, was a state agent, and the State withheld this fact along with an agreement that Mr. Brewer had reached with prosecutors regarding charges that were pending against Mr. Brewer. Mr. Brewer testified that he had his brother contact law enforcement after he heard Defendant discussing the case. Mr. Brewer said that he talked to the homicide detectives only one time and that was when they took his taped statement. Detective Robert Rhodes testified that he taped Mr. Brewer’s statement on July 25, 1985, and that was the only time he ever met with Mr. Brewer. The State did not make any deals with Mr. Brewer in exchange for the statement, and Detective Rhodes did not suggest questions for Mr. Brewer to ask the Defendant or ask Mr. Brewer to be an agent for the State. The State Attorney, Bernie McCabe, testified that he interviewed Mr. Brewer at the State Attorney’s Office prior to the trial and that he emphasized to Mr. Brewer that there were no deals in exchange for Mr. Brewer’s testimony. Defendant’s claim that Mr. Brewer was a state agent at the time that he discussed the Peggy Park murder with Defendant and that the State struck a deal with Mr. Brewer in exchange for his testimony is without merit.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 29 So. 3d 1034 - Grossman v. State