JOHN FURMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Furman appeals the revocation of his probation, arguing that the trial court erred by denying him a continuance to secure private counsel. The appellate court affirmed the revocation, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in denying continuances when the assigned public defender was adequately prepared to proceed.
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the continuance motions because the assigned public defender was adequately prepared to represent Furman, and Furman failed to demonstrate prejudice from any alleged inadequacy of representation.
[1] A trial court does not abuse its discretion by denying a continuance for the purpose of retaining new counsel when the appointed counsel is prepared to proceed and the de…
[2] A defendant's preference for private counsel over appointed counsel does not automatically entitle them to a continuance, especially when appointed counsel is ready to pr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The lower court assured itself that Rosenblum was adequately prepared before denying the motions for continuance, and did not abuse its discretion in doing so.”
Establishes the standard for reviewing continuance denials and indicates the trial court satisfied its obligation to ensure adequate preparation.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFurman was represented by public defender Rosenblum in probation revocation proceedings. Days before the hearing, Furman attempted to retain private c…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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JOANOS, Judge.
Belated review has been granted in this case pursuant to Ford v. Wainwright, 415 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). The judgment revoking appellant’s probation and the sentence are affirmed.
Appellant contends the lower court committed reversible error by denying him a continuance so that he could seek representation by counsel of his choice for the probation revocation proceedings. Originally, an assistant public defender, Rosenblum, was assigned the case and until the Monday before the Thursday revocation hearing, Rosenblum did not know appellant had attempted to retain private counsel to represent him. The day before hearing, appellant was informed the private attorney he had retained would not be able to represent him, and he sought a continuance in order to retain other private counsel. At the hearing on the motion for continuance, the day before the revocation hearing, the judge ascertained that despite the confusion, Rosenblum was not unprepared to represent appellant.
MR. ROSENBLUM: Judge, if I could, I would just like to say that I don’t feel that the total fault lies with Mr. Furman because it was Mr. Furman’s understanding that Mr. Mahon’s office was going to contact me, and they never did that.
Mr. Furman has been under the assumption these last few weeks that Mr. Mahon was representing him.
THE COURT: All right, well, that may very well be, and I — he may very well have, reasonably, to some extent, relied on those representations by Mr. Mahon, but the fact of the matter is, you were not mislead [sic] by that because you didn’t even know about it, and you were assuming that there, indeed, would be a hearing as scheduled for tomorrow.
MR. ROSENBLUM: Yes.
THE COURT: And so, nothing has been indicated to me that you would not be prepared as counsel of record in this case to proceed to hearing on Thursday.
The only thing is that he, apparently, would prefer to be represented by private counsel.
MR. ROSENBLUM: Yes, sir. The motion for a continuance was denied, although the court told appellant if he were able to employ private counsel by the next morning, that attorney could represent him at the hearing.
The next day at the revocation hearing, a private attorney again moved for a continuance in order to prepare for the hearing. Mr. Rosenblum stated he was not totally prepared to represent appellant because he had just that morning at about 8 a.m. received transcripts of two depositions he had taken three days earlier, and he had not had time to fully digest them. The transcripts were late in arriving because after being informed appellant had retained private counsel, Rosenblum did not order transcripts of the depositions. The revocation hearing took place around 11:25 a.m. with Rosenblum representing appellant, since the second motion for continuance was denied. Rosenblum was not aware of a state’s witness, Officer Wise, because a demand for discovery had not been filed, but the court ascertained that Rosenblum took advantage of a recess to interview Wise.
The lower court assured itself that Ro-senblum was adequately prepared before denying the motions for continuance, and did not abuse its discretion in doing so. Appellant has not shown prejudice due to inadequate representation. See generally United States v. Gray, 565 F. 2d 881 (5th Cir.1978) cert. denied 435 U.S. 955, 98 S.Ct. 1587, 55 L.Ed.2d 807 (1978); Bowman v. United States, 409 F. 2d 225 (5th Cir.1969) cert. denied 398 U.S. 967, 90 S.Ct. 2183, 26 L.Ed.2d 552 (1970); Tilly v. State, 256 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972). The cases which appellant seeks to analogize to the present case, Meadows v. State, 389 So. 2d 694 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), and Palmer v. State, 380 So. 2d 476 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), are distinguishable.
AFFIRMED.
SHIVERS and WENTWORTH, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Lebron v. State, 799 So. 2d 997 (Fla. 2001)…trial); Smith v. State, 48 Fla. 307, 37 So. 573 (1904) (finding no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s denial of a motion for continuance due to lead counsel’s absence, where other, equally well-qualified counsel was present); Furman v. State, 429 So. 2d 763 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983; (holding that the trial court, after ascertaining that the public defender representing the probationer was adequately prepared, did not err in denying the probationer a continuance so that he could seek representation by counsel…
Authorities Cited
- United States v. Gray, 565 F.2d 881 (5th Cir. 1978)
- Punch v. United States, 435 U.S. 955 (U.S. 1978)
- Franklin v. United States, 435 U.S. 955 (U.S. 1978)
- Bowman v. United States, 409 F.2d 225 (5th Cir. 1969)
- Alford v. Cox, 398 U.S. 967 (U.S. 1970)
- McNeill v. California, 398 U.S. 967 (U.S. 1970)
- Ford v. Wainwright, 415 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- Palmer v. State, 380 So. 2d 476 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)
- Meadows v. State, 389 So. 2d 694 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)
- Council Tilly, Jr. v. State, 256 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972)