STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
MARK OWEN LANE, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed trial court's dismissal of criminal case as sanction for state's discovery violation, holding that dismissal is an extreme sanction inappropriate where defendant shows no prejudice and has waived speedy trial.
Dismissal is an extreme sanction that should be imposed only where less severe sanctions would not accomplish the desired result, and is inappropriate when the defendant has shown no prejudice and waived speedy trial.
[1] Dismissal as a sanction for discovery violations is an extreme remedy appropriate only when less severe sanctions would not accomplish the desired result and is improper…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“dismissal is an extreme sanction which should be imposed only where less severe sanctions would not accomplish the desired result”
Court citing State v. Perez to establish the standard for when dismissal is appropriate as a sanction
The defendant filed a motion to continue and waived speedy trial while requesting discovery. The state inadvertently failed to provide the requested d…
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HALL, Judge.
The state contends that the trial court erred in its dismissal of the instant case. The appellee had filed a motion to continue the case and waived speedy trial at the time he filed a demand for discovery. The court signed an order compelling discovery. The state, through inadvertence, failed to provide discovery of the items requested by the appellee in his demand. At a status hearing several months later, the trial judge summarily dismissed the case as a sanction against the state for failure to comply with the court order compelling discovery. We reverse.
The appellee had waived speedy trial and requested a continuance. His motion for sanctions against the state for failure to comply with the court’s order compelling discovery failed to allege any prejudice to the appellee, and no prejudice was shown at the hearing. As we stated in State v. Perez, 383 So. 2d 923 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), “[dismissal is an extreme sanction which should be imposed only where less severe sanctions would not accomplish the desired result.” The appellee has shown no prejudice and, in fact, precluded any possible showing of prejudice by waiving speedy trial. Consequently, dismissal is an extreme sanction and inappropriate under the circumstances of this case.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.
SCHEB, A.C.J., and PARKER, J., concur.
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Authorities Cited
- State v. Perez, 383 So. 2d 923 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)