State of Florida v. Michael Peter Fitzpatrick

Summary

The court affirmed the postconviction order vacating Fitzpatrick’s first-degree murder conviction and death sentence and granting a new trial. It held that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and rebut critical forensic evidence concerning the timing of sexual activity and for failing to challenge the qualifications and testimony of the State’s sexual-assault expert, and that these failures prejudiced the guilt-phase trial. The court rejected ineffective-assistance claims based on additional medical testimony about medication and on fingernail testing because those omissions did not undermine confidence in the verdict.