Opinion
No. SC08-148.
September 24, 2008.
Lower Tribunal No(s). CF91-2418.
John Christopher Marquard, a prisoner under sentence of death, appeals the circuit court's denial of his successive motion for postconviction relief filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)( 1), Fla. Const. After this Court affirmed Marquard's conviction and sentence on direct appeal, see Marquard v. State, 641 So. 2d 54, 58 (Fla. 1994), Marquard unsuccessfully sought postconviction relief in this Court and the federal courts. See Marquard v. State, 850 So. 2d 417 (Fla. 2002) (affirming the circuit court's denial of Marquard's rule 3.850 motion and denying Marquard's petition for writ of habeas corpus); Marquard v. Sec'y for Dept. of Corr., 429 F. 3d 1278 (11th Cir. 2005) (affirming the federal district court's denial of Marquard's petition for writ of habeas corpus), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1181 (2006).
Marquard's current appeal represents a broad attack on the constitutionality of Florida's lethal injection system and, to a lesser extent, the inability of postconviction counsel to mount such attacks. Specifically, Marquard argues that: (1) newly discovered evidence, namely the circumstances surrounding the execution of Angel Diaz, proves that execution by lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; (2) section 27.702, Florida Statutes (2006), which prohibits postconviction counsel from filing Page 2 a civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, violates his rights to due process and equal protection; and (3) a recent American Bar Association report demonstrates that Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional. However, we recently rejected each of these claims. See Henyard v. State, Nos. SC08-222, SC08-1544, SC08-1653, 2008 WL 4148992, at *6-8 (Fla. Sept. 10, 2008); see also Lightbourne v. McCollum, 969 So. 2d 326 (Fla. 2007); Schwab v. State, 969 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 2007); Diaz v. State, 945 So. 2d 1136 (Fla. 2006); Rutherford v. State, 940 So. 2d 1112 (Fla. 2006); State ex rel. Butterworth v. Kenny, 714 So. 2d 404 (Fla. 1998). Accordingly, the circuit court order is hereby affirmed. It is so ordered.
QUINCE, C.J., and WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, LEWIS, BELL, and CANADY, JJ., concur.