Court orders new hearing for man sentenced to life, finding his defense attorney may have failed to present key self-defense evidence.
A Florida appeals court has reversed the summary denial of a post-conviction motion for Jose Ramon Nieves Rivera, a man serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. The Fourth District Court of Appeal has ordered a new evidentiary hearing, ruling that Nieves Rivera’s original defense counsel may have been “ineffective” for failing to call witnesses and an expert to support his self-defense claim.
The case, which originated from a shooting in St. Lucie County in 2015, centered on Nieves Rivera’s assertion that he acted in self-defense during a late-night argument that left one person dead and two others injured.
Despite his claim, Nieves Rivera was found guilty of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, and sentenced to a mandatory minimum of life imprisonment…