Tai A. Pham, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee; Tai A. Pham, Petitioner, v. Julie L. Jones

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of Pham's motion for postconviction relief and denied his habeas petition. It held that the alleged deficiencies in trial counsel's mitigation investigation and impeachment of a witness did not establish prejudice, that cumulative-error claims failed because the individual claims lacked merit, and that appellate counsel was not ineffective for omitting meritless or unsupported claims. Justice Pariente, joined by Justice Quince, concurred in the result but would have resolved the trial-counsel claims solely on lack of prejudice and found deficient performance in the mitigation investigation.