Lawyers for the state argued that Charlie Adelson’s appellate case should not go back to a lower court to address alleged conflicts of interest in his murder trial, which ended last year with guilty verdicts and a life sentence.
Last week, Alelson’s appellate lawyers, Michael Ufferman and Laurel Niles, filed a motion asking that the 1st District Court of Appeal temporarily relinquish the case to the circuit court — a possible first step in trying to get a new trial. They said that would allow the defense to raise claims about conflicts of interest stemming from Miami defense attorney Dan Rashbaum’s representation of both Charlie Adelson and his mother Donna Adelson.
On Monday, Assistant Attorney Generals Trisha Meggs Pate and Robert Charles Lee objected to Charlie Adelson’s motion, saying he failed to demonstrate a valid reason to “circumvent the normal procedures” for post-conviction relief.
Pate, Tallahassee bureau chief for criminal appeals, and Lee wrote that Adelson’s conflict of interest claim was like a 3.850 motion for ineffective counsel, which can be filed only after all other appeals have failed. The state wrote that Adelson should either dismiss his direct appeal before the 1st DCA to pursue that claim or wait until his direct appeal has concluded to file it.