Carswell v. State

The defendant appeals an order denying his motion for post-conviction relief, filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. To prevent manifest injustice, we treat this appeal as a petition for writ of habeas corpus and grant a belated direct appeal on a limited issue. See Lago v. State, 975 So.2d 613 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008) (treating appeal as petition for habeas corpus and granting relief in order to correct a manifest injustice). 1

The State charged the defendant with attempted second degree murder with a firearm for a fight that resulted in a shooting. The defendant claimed that…