KEVIN THOMPSON, PETITIONER,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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.
The court held that a defendant entitled to insolvency status is not required to accept the public defender to obtain discovery costs, and the public defender cannot be appointed as co-counsel with privately retained counsel.
[1] An insolvent criminal defendant is entitled to reasonable discovery costs paid by the county, and is not required to accept the services of the public defender to obtain…
[2] The fact that a defendant's family has retained private counsel does not alter their entitlement to reasonable discovery costs when adjudged insolvent.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA criminal defendant was declared insolvent and had private counsel retained by his family. The trial court denied his motion for insolvency costs and…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Writ Of Certiorari cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a criminal defendant seeking review of trial court orders denying the defendant’s motion to declare him insolvent for costs and appointing the public defender to represent him below as co-counsel with private counsel retained by his family. We grant the petition and quash the orders under review based on the following briefly stated legal analysis.
First, the defendant, who was adjudged insolvent by the trial court below, was entitled to reasonable discovery costs to be paid by Dade County under Sections 914.11, 939.07, Florida Statutes (1985), and Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.220(k); he was not, as urged, required to accept the services of the public defender in order to obtain such reasonable costs of discovery. Moreover, the fact that his family had retained private counsel to represent him cannot change this result. Guy v. State, 473 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Price v. Mounts, 421 So. 2d 690 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Johnson v. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Saintil v. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).
Second, “section 27.51, Florida Statutes , although it permits the appointment of the public defender to represent certain indigent defendants, does not permit the appointment of the public de fender as co-counsel with privately retained counsel.” Behr v. Gardner, 442 So. 2d 980, 982 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (emphasis added). Stated differently, the trial court has no statutory authority to appoint the public defender to represent an indigent defendant, as here, as co-counsel with privately retained counsel; such an appointment is subject to quashal on a petition for certiorari, whether the subject petition is filed by the public defender, as in Behr, or by the defendant, as here.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the orders under review are quashed, and the cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to grant the defendant’s motion to declare him insolvent for costs.
Petition granted; orders quashed; cause remanded.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Leon Cnty. v. Harmon, 589 So. 2d 429 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)…s several arguments pertaining to the trial court’s construction of the applicable statutes, sections 27.52 and 939.07, Florida Statutes (1989). We find that these questions have been addressed and answered by our sister courts in Thompson v. State, 525 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988), Guy v. State, 473 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), Price v. Mounts, 421 So. 2d 690 (Fla, 4th DCA 1982), Saintil v. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), and Johnson v. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). The Price and S…
-
Seminole Cnty. v. Spaziano, 707 So. 2d 931 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)…cord. The petition for writ of certiorari is therefore granted and the order appointing co-counsel is quashed. PETITION GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED. GOSHORN, J., concurs. COBB, J., concurs and concurs specially, with opinion. . See Thompson v. State, 525 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Behr v. Gardner, 442 So. 2d 980 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983).…
-
In re Amendment to Fla. Rules of Jud. Administration-Minimum Standards for Appointed Counsel in Cap. Cases, 711 So. 2d 1148 (Fla. 1998)…ndigent and unrepresented and not to a ease in which the defendant has retained private counsel. The court should continue to follow the rule prohibiting the appointment of co-counsel for a defendant who has retained counsel. See, Thompson v. State, 525 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988); Behr v. Gardner, 442 So. 2d 980 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Experience and Educational Requirements. The experience and continuing educational requirements in these standards are based on existing local standards in effect throughout t…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Behr v. Gardner, 442 So. 2d 980 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)
- Johnson v. The Honorable Arthur I. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
- Price v. The Honorable Marvin U. Mounts, Jr., 421 So. 2d 690 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)
- GUY v. State, 473 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985)
- Saintil v. The Honorable Arthur I. Snyder, 417 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)