Gary Richard Whitton v. State of Florida

Summary

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the summary denial of Gary Richard Whitton's second successive motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, in which the death-sentenced prisoner claimed that jailhouse informant Jake Ozio's recantation testimony from Whitton's federal habeas proceedings was newly discovered evidence of Giglio and Brady violations at his 1992 murder trial. The court held the claims untimely because they were discoverable through due diligence more than a year before the July 7, 2023 filing — Whitton had Ozio's recantation affidavit since at least 2000 and deposed him in May 2021 — and procedurally barred as relitigation of claims rejected in his initial postconviction proceeding. It further held that the State's warning to Ozio about perjury liability was not a coercive threat, and that although the circuit court erred in skipping the case management conference required by rule 3.851(f)(5)(B), the error was harmless because the motion lacked legal merit. All seven Justices concurred; no separate opinions were filed.