Preston Pamphile v. State of Florida

Petitioner argues his appellate counsel ineffectively handled his direct appeal in four ways. We find three of Petitioner’s arguments meritless, and deny his petition as to those grounds; but we agree with the State’s proper concession of error on the question of establishing Petitioner’s competency.

Petitioner’s trial counsel requested a competency evaluation, and the trial court appointed an expert to evaluate Petitioner and submit a report. The court set a hear ing on the issue. However, the expert’s report was not filed with the court, the issue was not addressed at the scheduled hearing…