HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida appellate court has shut down a convicted murderer’s attempt to secure a new trial, ruling that his “fishing expedition” into a juror’s personal life came more than a decade too late.
Anthony Rivera, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree felony murder and robbery with a deadly weapon, argued that his conviction should be tossed because a member of his jury concealed significant personal details during voir dire—the preliminary examination of a juror.
In a ruling issued Wednesday, the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny Rivera’s motion, citing that the appeal was filed well past the two-year statutory deadline.
Rivera’s legal team argued they had uncovered “newly discovered evidence” proving juror misconduct. Specifically, they alleged a juror failed to disclose the extensive criminal histories of her ex-husband, sons, and boyfriend, which included arrests for robbery and drug possession. They also claimed the juror hid the fact that she lived just 2.8 miles from the condominium where the murder took place.
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Rivera contended this information proved the juror was likely biased against him and sympathetic to the victim, who was reportedly involved in drug sales. The motion relied on findings from a private firm, Covert Ops Jury Investigations, which Rivera retained in August 2021—nearly 14 years after his conviction was finalized.
However, Judge Atkinson, writing for the appellate panel, dismantled the argument that this information qualified as “newly discovered” under the law.
The court noted that the private investigators found the “hidden” details simply by cross-referencing public records, such as the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court’s database and the Florida Department of Corrections website. Since the marriage licenses, arrest logs, and address records were public at the time of the trial, Rivera or his attorneys could have found them years ago had they exercised due diligence.
“The source of the information purported to be newly discovered evidence—prison records, arrest records, marriage records—is that of publicly available records,” Judge Atkinson wrote. “Because the information is publicly available, it could have been discovered with due diligence.”
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Rivera’s attorneys argued that they couldn’t afford a specialized investigation team until 2021 and noted that the specific company used didn’t exist until 2020. The court rejected this excuse, pointing out that private investigators—and even diligent non-professionals—have had access to public records for generations.
“The argument that a cottage industry of juror investigators did not develop until after the time limit expired is not enough,” the opinion stated.
The judges characterized the late-stage investigation not as a serendipitous discovery of buried secrets, but as a delayed strategic maneuver.
“This defendant went on a fishing expedition but did not do so until after the time period to file a postconviction motion had expired,” the court ruled. “The exception to the time bar applies when the information did not become ascertainable until after the deadline, not when the postconviction defendant only decided to start looking for it after the deadline.”
The ruling affirms the decision of Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Michelle Sisco, keeping Rivera’s life sentence intact. Judges Rothstein-Youakim and Labrit concurred with the opinion.
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