Howard Steven Ault, Appellant v. State of Florida, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of Ault’s ineffective-assistance claim concerning guilt-phase counsel because the record conclusively established no reasonable probability that the alleged deficiencies affected the murder convictions. It did not reach Ault’s penalty-phase ineffective-assistance claims because his death sentences had to be vacated under Hurst, and the State could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the nonunanimous jury recommendations and absence of unanimous findings were harmless. Justice Polston, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would have left the death sentences in place.