WALTER C. BAILEY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1981-09-18
No. 80-393
OTT, J., concurs specially with opinion., GRIMES, A.C.J., dissents with opinion.
403 So. 2d 1106 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1981) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

Bailey, a juvenile tried as an adult for burglary, appeals his five-year prison sentence imposed after a probation violation for petit theft. The court affirmed, holding that statutory procedures under Florida law apply only when initially imposing an adult sanction, not when revoking probation for a subsequent offense, and that Bailey waived any error by failing to appeal the initial sentence.


Holding

The trial court properly had jurisdiction via direct information and any procedural omissions regarding section 39.111(6) do not affect jurisdiction. Section 39.111(6) procedures are required only when initially imposing an adult sanction; Bailey waived any error in that regard by failing to appeal. The court was not required to follow section 39.111(6) procedures when revoking probation for a subsequent violation under section 39.02(5)(d).


Headnotes

[1] A court's jurisdiction, once properly established, is not affected by subsequent procedural omissions.

[2] Failure to appeal a court's procedural error in imposing an initial adult sanction waives the right to challenge that error later.

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Key Quotes

“Once the criminal division properly had jurisdiction, any omission by it in complying with statutory directions would not affect jurisdiction. The power to adjudicate includes the authority to rule both correctly and incorrectly.”

Establishes that jurisdictional defects cannot be created by procedural noncompliance; jurisdiction is separate from proper procedure.

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Facts & Procedural History

Bailey was sixteen years old when charged by direct information for burglary. Represented by public defender, he entered a negotiated guilty plea with…

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Opinion of the Court
CAMPBELL, Judge.

CAMPBELL, Judge.

Appellant appeals from his five-year sentence imposed upon a finding of a probation violation. Appellant, who was sixteen years old at the time, was initially charged by the state attorney on a direct information for burglary. Appellant was represented by the public defender, and as a result of a negotiated plea of guilty, adjudication was withheld and appellant was placed on three years’ probation. One condition of probation was that appellant reside in the county jail for sixty days. Subsequently, an affidavit of probation violation was filed charging appellant with petit theft. Finding that appellant had violated his probation, the trial court revoked the probation, adjudicated appellant guilty and sentenced him to five years in the state prison system.

The basis of this appeal is that the trial court did not follow the procedures set out in section 39.111(6), Florida Statutes (1979), either at the time the initial adult sanction was imposed on appellant or at the time probation was revoked and he was sentenced to the five-year prison term.

The circuit court, criminal division, properly had jurisdiction by reason of the direct information filed against appellant by the state attorney. State v. Cain, 381 So. 2d 1361 (Fla.1980). Once the criminal division properly had jurisdiction, any omission by it in complying with statutory directions would not affect jurisdiction. The power to adjudicate includes the authority to rule both correctly and incorrectly. State ex rel. Pearson v. Johnson, 334 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). Appellant’s remedy for the court’s failure to follow section 39.111(6) when it imposed the adult sanction, placing him on three years’ probation with sixty days to be served in the county jail, would have been to appeal. State ex rel. Pearson v. Johnson. Failure by appellant to do so waived any error by the court in not following the procedures of section 39.111(6) at that time.

Section 39.02(5)(d) provides as follows:

Once a child has been transferred for criminal prosecution pursuant to a waiver hearing, indictment, or information and has been found to have committed the offense for which he is transferred or a lesser included offense, the child shall thereafter be handled in every respect as if he were an adult for any subsequent violation of Florida law. The court was not required to follow the procedures of section 39.111(6) to revoke the original probation and sentence the appellant as a result of the affidavit charging a probation violation for the commission of a subsequent offense. It is only when the court initially imposes an adult sanction that those procedures are required and appellant’s failure to appeal waived this requirement.

The judgment and sentence of the trial court is, therefore, affirmed.

OTT, J., concurs specially with opinion.

GRIMES, A.C.J., dissents with opinion.

Concurrence
OTT, Judge, specially

OTT, Judge, specially

concurring.

There is no dispute over the initial question here. When a sixteen or seventeen-year-old juvenile has been directly informed against by the state attorney, before the Adult Division of the Circuit Court can impose any adult sanctions against him the court must consider, and make specific findings of fact regarding, the criteria specified by section 39.111(6), Florida Statutes. State v. Cain, 381 So. 2d 1361 (Fla.1980).

But must the court continue to do so again and again, each and every time the juvenile comes before the court for further proceedings arising out of the same charges? In my opinion, once the court has determined that the circumstances of the offense do not warrant juvenile treatment, it is an unwarranted imposition to require the court to reconsider that decision. Will the passage of time somehow change those circumstances? I think not.

The mandate for initial consideration of the factors for determining whether a juvenile should be treated as an adult is a worthwhile procedure conducive to social justice. However, courts are far too busy for eternal afterthoughts and second guessing, whose sole effect could be only the eventual repudiation of the first decision.

When the court below imposed an adult sanction (probation) against appellant without considering the governing criteria, it erred. Appellant should have and could have appealed. But, evidently pleased with the court’s action, he did not bring the error to our attention, nor even to the attention of the erring court below. Knowing full well the conditions of his probation, and the consequences of violating them, he chose to take his chances. I think we should not encourage criminal defendants to look upon a procedural error as a secret ace in the hole, for future use.

Dissent
GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge,

GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge,

dissenting.

I doubt that section 39.02(5)(d) eliminates the sentencing requirements of section 39.-111(6) for any child convicted in criminal court, because section 39.02(6), which immediately follows section 39.02(5)(d), states:

(6) When a child has been transferred for criminal prosecution as an adult and the child has been found to have committed a violation of Florida law, the disposition of the case shall be made pursuant to s. 39.111(6).

In any event, section 39.02(5)(d) simply provides that once a child prosecuted in criminal court has been found to have committed an offense, he will thereafter be handled as an adult for any subsequent violation of Florida law. Thus, at the most, because appellant pled guilty in criminal court, he must be treated as an adult for any new violation of Florida law. However, the sentence appellant now challenges was imposed for the original violation. If section 39.-02(5)(d) is applicable at all in the context of this case, it would only come into play if the state files new charges against appellant for the petit theft which was the basis for the revocation of his probation.

Insofar as waiver is concerned, there is no doubt that by failing to appeal the probation order appellant lost the right to complain of the court’s noncompliance with section 39.111 at the time it placed him on probation. Yet, it was not until later that the court sentenced appellant to jail for the original offense, and he has timely appealed from that sentence. The fallacy in saying that he waited too long to complain is that it was only when he was sentenced to jail that he had anything to complain about. Section 39.111 is applicable to sentencing. Its obvious purpose is to require the court to first consider the advisability of sentencing alternatives before incarcerating youthful offenders with hardened criminals. However, appellant has now been jailed without regard to the statute.


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Citator

Cited By

  • McCLOUD v. State, 653 So. 2d 453 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
    …2d 677, 678 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988); accord Gilbert v. State, 629 So. 2d 303, 304 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), review denied, 639 So. 2d 978 (Fla.1994); Judge v. State, 596 So. 2d 73, 77 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), review denied, 613 So. 2d 5 (Fla.1992); Bailey v. State, 403 So. 2d 1106, 1108 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981); see also Goldsmith v. State, 613 So. 2d 1327 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (failure to appeal adjudication of defendant as a habitual offender), review denied, 623 So. 2d 494 (Fla.1993); King v. State, 597 So. 2d 309, 317 (Fla. 2d DC…
  • Griffin v. State, 519 So. 2d 677 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)
    …lt sanctions were improperly imposed upon him—should have been raised, if at all, in an appeal when defendant was originally placed on probation and is not appropriately raised in this appeal from a revocation of that probation. See Bailey v. State, 403 So. 2d 1106 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). Defendant also contends that the trial court erred in imposing convictions and sentences for both grand theft and dealing in stolen property because both charges arose from the same course of conduct. If it is true that both cha…
  • Powell v. State, 606 So. 2d 486 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)
    …dult sanctions is required upon a resen-tencing made pursuant to a probation revocation even though that determination was previously made at the original disposition hearing. Cf. Griffin v. State, 519 So. 2d 677 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988); Bailey v. State, 403 So. 2d 1106 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). While we reach the conclusion that the trial court had the power to impose adult sanctions upon Powell, the power is not without restrictions. Powell had originally received juvenile sanctions for his crimes. If adult sanctions…

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