
    Noelvil SOIRELUS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
    No. 5D99-2384.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
    March 10, 2000.
    Noelvil Soirelus, Bushnell, Pro se.
    Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Bonnie Jean Parrish, Assistant Attorney General,Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
   HARRIS, J.

Having considered this habeas corpus petition on the merits (we thus deny the State’s motion to dismiss based on petitioner’s failure to timely file a brief after directed to do so), we affirm the trial court’s denial of relief because the grounds asserted herein could have and should have been raised on direct appeal. See Bryan v. Dugger, 641 So.2d 61 (Fla.1994); Gray v. Wainwright, 442 So.2d 312 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983).

AFFIRMED.

ANTOON, C.J., and PETERSON, J., concur.  