Mr. Morgan was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He later argued that his attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel by advising him to reject a plea agreement offered by the state and predicting Mr. Morgan would be acquitted at trial or, at most, convicted of a lesser charge. The trial court denied the claim without a hearing. The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld that decision but also certified a conflict with the Third District Court of Appeal. In a similar but unrelated case, the 3rd DCA had ruled that the trial court had to hold a hearing before it could rule on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.