STATE EX REL. CARL E. CAVANAUGH, PETITIONER,
v.
HONORABLE HARRY LEE COE, III, CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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PER CURIAM.
This petition for writ of mandamus is brought by an acquitted defendant seeking to compel the circuit court judge to issue a certificate of taxable costs pursuant to section 939.06, Florida Statutes (1981), which provides as follows:
939.06 Acquitted defendant not liable for costs. — No defendant in a criminal prosecution who is acquitted or discharged shall be liable for any costs or fees of the court or any ministerial office, or for any charge of subsistence while detained in custody. If he shall have paid any taxable costs in the case, the clerk or judge shall give him a certificate of the payment of such costs, with the items thereof, which, when audited and approved according to law, shall be refunded to him by the county.
The trial judge refused to issue the certificate on the theory that there was discretion to deny such costs when “... a person who factually is guilty ...” is found not guilty by the jury. We find no such exception express or implied in the statute. Therefore, we grant the petition and direct the trial judge to give petitioner a certificate of taxable costs which he may submit to the county for reimbursement.
MANDAMUS GRANTED.
GRIMES, A.C.J., and DANAHY and SCHOONOVER, JJ., concur.
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Owen v. State, 441 So. 2d 1111 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)…the death of any particular individual ....”5 [e.s.] The trial judge’s view of the evidence may be entirely correct but he is not free to disregard the jury’s findings even for the purpose of enhancing a sentence. See State ex rel. Cavanaugh v. Coe, 439 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) (a trial court may not refuse to issue a certificate for a defendant to recover costs on a theory that the defendant is factually guilty even though the jury found him not guilty). The second part of the court’s stated reason for…
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Christan Starkes v. State (Fla. 1st DCA 2020)…s provided as to the genesis of this interpretation, most especially the latter conclusion. Four years after Crawford, the Second District issued a seemingly contrary opinion regarding application of section 939.06 in State ex rel. Cavanaugh v. Coe, 439 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). In Coe, the Second District reversed a trial court’s denial of costs finding that a trial judge’s exercise of discretion in applying the statute was improper. Id. at 313. The court stated as follows: The trial judge refused to i…