ROBERT THOMAS AVERA, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Avera petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus seeking delayed appellate review after his assistant public defender failed to timely file a notice of appeal. The court granted the petition, holding that ineffective assistance of counsel excuses strict compliance with the 30-day appellate filing deadline, and certified to the Florida Supreme Court a constitutional question about state action liability under Polk County v. Dodson.
The court granted the writ of habeas corpus and permitted Avera to proceed with a belated appeal. The court held that when a criminal defendant is denied the right to appeal because of ineffective assistance of counsel, the appellate court should grant a petition for writ of habeas corpus for belated appellate review. The court also certified two questions of great public interest to the Florida Supreme Court regarding state action liability under Polk County v. Dodson for failures by both publicly appointed and privately retained counsel.
[1] A criminal defendant is entitled to belated appellate review via a petition for writ of habeas corpus when denied the right to appeal due to ineffective assistance of cou…
[2] The thirty-day time limit for filing a notice of appeal is jurisdictional and cannot be extended by the court, except in cases of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“if a criminal defendant is denied the right to appeal because of ineffective assistance of counsel then the appellate court should grant a petition for writ of habeas corpus for belated appellate review”
Establishes the core holding that habeas relief is available when counsel's ineffectiveness deprives defendant of appellate rights
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobert Thomas Avera was convicted in a criminal proceeding. His assistant public defender failed to file a timely motion for new trial and failed to f…
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DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is another petition for writ of habeas corpus for delayed appellate review. An assistant public defender has again failed to follow the Rules of Criminal Procedure by failing to file a timely motion for new trial and failing to file a timely notice of appeal.
The assistant attorney general assigned to this case strongly objects with good reason to our, in effect, waiving the jurisdictional requirements regarding cases such as these and maintains that the thirty-day requirement for the filing of a notice of appeal is merely a “suggestion that defendant’s counsel file his notice within thirty days.” In all cases except those where counsel is appointed to represent criminal defendants, the thirty day time limit is jurisdictional and cannot be extended by the court. This exception is now being extended to include criminal defendants represented by privately retained counsel who fail to file a timely notice of appeal on the grounds that such failure indicates ineffective assistance of counsel. The reasoning is that only the lawyer is to blame and the defendant should not suffer just because he retained an incompetent lawyer. See Ford v. Wainwright, 415 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).
Baggett v. Wainwright, 229 So. 2d 239 (Fla.1969), Hollingshead v. Wainwright, 194 So. 2d 577 (Fla.1967) and a multitude of other cases establish and maintain the rule that if a criminal defendant is denied the right to appeal because of ineffective assistance of counsel then the appellate court should grant a petition for writ of habeas corpus for belated appellate review. We shall follow the rule and thus grant the petition for writ of habeas corpus in this case and permit petitioner to carry forth his appeal.
On March 3, 1982, this court sent a letter to each public defender in this district tell ing them to advise their attorneys “that from this day forward, any such petition will be forwarded to the proper grievance committee for appropriate action.” As judges and members of The Florida Bar it is our obligation to report incompetent counsel to The Florida Bar for its determination as to whether grievance procedures are warranted. Because the breach of duty committed by the attorney in this case was before the March 3,1982 warning letter and because the trial judge expressly, on the record, told the assistant public defender that he could file an untimely motion for new trial, we will not formally refer this case to The Florida Bar. For the same reason we shall not begin any similar proceedings under Rule 11.14 of the Integration Rule of The Florida Bar. All lawyers should now be on notice.
We certify to our Supreme Court as a question of great public interest the same question we certified in Meyer v. State, 415 So. 2d 70 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982).
A. IN THE LIGHT OF THE DECISION IN POLK COUNTY v. DODSON, [-U.S.-] 102 S.Ct. 445 [70 L.Ed.2d 509] (1981), IS STATE ACTION INVOLVED IN THE FAILURE OF A PUBLICLY APPOINTED LAWYER TO FILE A TIMELY NOTICE OF APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE CONVICTED DEFENDANT, SO AS TO ENTITLE THE DEFENDANT TO BELATED APPELLATE REVIEW BY PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS? B. IN THE LIGHT OF THE DECISION IN POLK COUNTY v. DODSON, [-U.S.-] 102 S.Ct. 445 [70 L.Ed.2d 509] (1981), IS STATE ACTION INVOLVED IN THE FAILURE OF A PRIVATELY RETAINED LAWYER TO FILE A TIMELY NOTICE OF APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE CONVICTED DEFENDANT, SO AS TO ENTITLE THE DEFENDANT TO BELATED APPELLATE REVIEW BY PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS?
WRIT GRANTED.
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr. and CO-WART, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. Meyer, 430 So. 2d 440 (Fla. 1983)…SHAW, JJ., concur. . Meyer v. State, 415 So. 2d 70 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Silvera v. State, 416 So. 2d 509 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Levesque v. State, 416 So. 2d 509 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Smith v. State, 416 So. 2d 510 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Avera v. State, 417 So. 2d 804 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); Epps v. Wainwright, 420 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). . The second certified question is not apposite to the facts before us. Nonetheless, because of the reasoning underlying the negative answer to the first question, the ans…
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Bridges v. Dugger, 518 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)…a request from his client, a belated appeal was authorized on the theory counsel’s inaction constituted “state action.” Baggett v. Wainwright, 229 So. 2d 239 (Fla.1969). One flaw with this reasoning was pointed out by the appellee in Avera v. State, 417 So. 2d 804 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), who argued that the extension of Baggett to defense counsel effectively abolished the jurisdictional time limit for filing a notice of appeal in criminal cases and replaced it with a “suggestion” that counsel file his notice wit…
Authorities Cited
- Polk Cnty. v. Dodson, 454 U.S. 312 (U.S. 1981)
- Baggett v. Louie L. Wainwright, 229 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 1969)
- Cleveland Hollingshead v. Louie L. Wainwright, 194 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 1967)
- Meyer v. State, 415 So. 2d 70 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)
- Ford v. Wainwright, 415 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)