6/7/21 Florida Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Henry Martin Steiger v. State of Florida SC20-1404

A jury convicted Steiger of second-degree murder in 2019 and he was sentenced to life in prison. On direct appeal, Steiger raised several claims, including that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. The First District Court of Appeal affirmed Steiger’s conviction and sentence and held that Steiger could not raise his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims on direct appeal because they were not preserved in the trial court. This Court accepted discretionary review because the First DCA decision conflicts with other appellate court decisions allowing unpreserved ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims to be raised on direct appeal. In this review proceeding, Steiger claims ineffective counsel assistance and argues that the trial court erred in admitting three autopsy photographs.