State of Florida v. Khadafy Kareem Mullens

Summary

The court reversed the postconviction order granting Mullens a new penalty phase, holding that counsel was not deficient in investigating or presenting mitigating evidence and that Mullens failed to establish prejudice. The court affirmed the denial of Mullens’s claims concerning his guilty pleas, waiver of a penalty-phase jury, intellectual disability, and cumulative error. The court applied a mixed standard of review, deferring to supported factual findings but reviewing legal conclusions concerning deficient performance and prejudice de novo.