District Court of Appeal of Florida January 11, 2012, No. 4D10-1383 (Hills v. State)

WARNER, J.

This case presents a very rare incidence where ineffective assistance of counsel is apparent on the face of the record. Trial counsel failed to move to sever two distinct counts of a criminal information until after the jury was informed of both crimes. Although the trial court tried to salvage a bad situation, the damage was irreparable, as counsel continued to perform ineffectively.