Castillo v. State

Victor Castillo petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging several claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel with respect to his appeal of his racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering convictions. We find that appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to argue that the two predicate incidents proved by the State did not occur within five years of each other and therefore did not meet the definition of a “pattern of racketeering activity” under section 895.02(4), Florida Statutes (2007). We thus grant Castillo a new appeal, limited to this issue. We deny…