Isaiah Andrew Clark v. State of Florida

FIRST D ISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
S TATE OF FLORIDA
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No. 1D2025-1009
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I SAIAH A NDREW C LARK,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA ,
Appellee.
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On appeal from the Circuit Court for Alachua County.
James M. Colaw, Judge.
May 13, 2026
P ER C URIAM.
In this belated appeal, Isaiah Andrew Clark challenges the
final order denying his motion for postconviction relief on all ten
grounds alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel. 	We find
that the court erred in summarily denying ground nine. We affirm
the denial of the remaining grounds.
If the claim is legally sufficient, unless the record shows
conclusively that the appellant is entitled to no relief, the order
must be reversed and the cause remanded for an evidentiary
hearing 	or 	other 	appropriate 	relief. 	See 	Fla. 	R. 	App. 	P.
9.141(b)(1)(D); Griggs v. State, 995 So. 2d 994, 995 (Fla. 1st DCA
2008) (“We review the summary denial of claims for postconviction

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relief to determine whether the claims are legally sufficient and
whether they are conclusively refuted by the record.”).
In ground nine of his motion, Appellant alleged that counsel
was 	ineffective 	for 	failing 	to 	object 	to 	jury 	instructions 	as
unsupported by the evidence, which he claims confused and misled
the jury. 	The court found that this ground was conclusively
refuted by the record, which it asserted showed that the jury
instructions 	mirrored 	the 	standard 	jury 	instructions 	for 	both
counts.
The court’s order suggests that it intended to attach the jury
instructions that were read to the jury. 	But the record on appeal
does not include the jury instructions. This ground is therefore not
conclusively refuted by the record. 	We reverse the portion of the
order 	summarily 	denying 	ground 	nine 	and 	remand 	with
instructions 	that 	the 	postconviction 	court 	attach 	to 	its 	order
portions of the record that conclusively refute the claim. 	See
Pantoja v. State, 226 So. 3d 1043, 1045–46 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017).
AFFIRMED in part; R EVERSED in part; R EMANDED.
KELSEY , M.K. THOMAS, and LONG, JJ., concur.
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Not 	final 	until 	disposition 	of 	any 	timely 	and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
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Isaiah Andrew Clark, pro se, Appellant.
James 	Uthmeier, 	Attorney 	General, 	and 	Heather 	F. 	Ross,
Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.