RECENT APPELLATE, POST CONVICTION AND SENTENCING NEWS FROM OUR CASES

The appellate and post-conviction relief wins cited below are not meant to indicate that if you retain Mr. Kent that he will necessarily be able to win your case.  Most appellate and post-conviction cases result in adverse decisions, meaning that the client loses, and the majority of state appellate cases are decided by the court without a published decision, referred to as a per curiam affirmed decision sometimes leaving the client with no further avenue of relief.  However, this harsh reality makes it all the more important that a client choose his or her appellate or post-conviction counsel carefully, to insure that the best possible appellate or post-conviction brief or motion is presented to the court to increase the chance of success in what is in any event a difficult process.  Mr. Kent cannot assure any client of success in his or her appeal or post-conviction proceeding but can only assure the client that he will use his very best efforts to achieve the best possible outcome for the client. A U.S. Department of Justice study done in 2000 for all federal criminal appeals from 1985-1999 showed that defendants had a substantially better chance of reversal on appeal if they had privately retained counsel than if they used court appointed counsel.  

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May 18, 2022, Volusia County Circuit Court Judge Clayton granted Mr. Kent's Florida Rule 3.850 Motion for our client, B.J., based on newly discovered evidence of a recanting key trial witness, setting aside a thirty year prison sentence following a trial guilty verdict arising out of a home invasion robbery. 

 

February 28, 2022,  Leon County (Tallahassee, Florida) state circuit court Judge Stephen Everett granted Mr. Kent and Mr. McFarland's combination Rule 3.800 and Rule 3.850 motion and vacated a mandatory life sentence for first degree murder for our client James Squaire, Jr., and allowed him to enter a plea to a lesser included charge of second degree murder and a time served sentence followed by life probation.  Mr. Squaire was released the following day after the Department of Corrections cleared the release.  His mother and father took him back home to Jacksonville where he enjoyed his first meal as a free man.  Our client had served 25 years in prison when his family came to retain us.  On its face it appeared to be a procedurally barred, hopeless case.  

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