Linkous v. State
Docket: Nos. 89-00706, 89-02730
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida; September 11, 1991; Florida; State Appellate Court
John Linkous appeals the denial of two motions for postconviction relief related to his 1987 conviction for sexual activity with a child by a person in a familial or custodial authority. The first motion, filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, challenged the effectiveness of his trial counsel. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing, during which it found no evidence of constitutional deficiency in counsel's performance, a conclusion the appellate court upheld. The second motion involved a petition for writ of error coram nobis, based on newly discovered evidence—a sworn statement from the victim, Linkous’s stepdaughter, claiming she had lied about the abuse. The trial court considered this petition as part of the 3.850 proceedings. During the hearing, both the victim and her mother testified. The mother stated the victim signed the recantation voluntarily, although she admitted the statement was prepared in advance. Conversely, the victim testified she was coerced into signing the statement and did not read it prior to doing so, only learning its content that day. The appellate court noted that historically, recanted testimony is viewed as unreliable and emphasized that, under prior rulings, a defendant could only obtain relief if it could be demonstrated that the state had knowingly used perjured testimony. The court affirmed the trial court's decision to disregard the victim's affidavit, supporting the conclusion that the evidence did not warrant relief under the standards of coram nobis or the 3.850 motion. The ruling was affirmed by the appellate judges, emphasizing the importance of evaluating the credibility of recantations and the broad discretion afforded to trial courts in such matters.