Teffeteller v. Dugger

In Teffeteller v. Dugger, 734 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 1999), the defendant alleged that counsel did not adequately question the prospective jurors about their pretrial knowledge of the case. In denying Teffeteller's claim, the Court noted that the voir dire record indicated that the judge questioned the prospective jurors about pretrial publicity and their knowledge of the case. Those who expressed even the slightest knowledge of the case were further questioned to determine whether they could disregard this information and render an impartial verdict based solely on the evidence at the resentencing proceeding. The prosecutor also questioned the prospective jurors about their exposure to news reporting. The Court held: In light of this questioning of the prospective jurors, we cannot fault trial counsel for failing to repeat the questioning. Thus, Teffeteller has failed to prove deficient performance in this regard. Moreover, in light of the procedure followed by the court, even if counsel was remiss in not asking additional questions during voir dire, it resulted in no prejudice to Teffeteller and no relief is warranted on this basis. Id. at 1020-21.