Stone v. State

Full title: KERRY K. STONE, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: Nov 20, 2002

830 So. 2d 277 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2002)

Opinion

Case No. 3D02-484

Opinion filed November 20, 2002.

An appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, Cecilia M. Altonaga, Judge. Lower Tribunal No. 96-14364a.

Kerry K. Stone, for appellant.

Richard E. Doran, Attorney General, and Jill K. Traina, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before COPE, GODERICH and RAMIREZ, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The trial court acted within its discretion in declining to appoint counsel for the evidentiary hearing on appellant's postconviction motion. There was a single, simple issue to be tried: what advice trial counsel gave to defendant-appellant Stone regarding whether he should testify at trial. See Williams v. State, 472 So.2d 738 1985); Hylleberg v. State, 729 So.2d 409 5th DCA 1999). Specifically, the defendant maintained that trial counsel threatened to withdraw if the defendant insisted on taking the stand, while trial counsel denied making any such threat.

Affirmed.