RICHARD SCOTT ROBERTS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1993-08-16
No. 92-2056
BOOTH, MINER and ALLEN, JJ., concur.
622 So. 2d 628 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1993) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Richard Scott Roberts challenges the trial court's denial of jail credit for 148 days spent in a private psychiatric hospital (Rivendell) pending trial on a murder charge. The appellate court affirmed the denial, holding that jail credit requires not only total custody but also that the confinement be coercive or involuntary, which was not satisfied where the defendant voluntarily arranged and paid for his own hospitalization.


Holding

Jail credit is not warranted for the Rivendell confinement because, although the statute requires credit for time in institutions serving as the functional equivalent of a county jail, such credit is limited to coercive or involuntary confinement. The defendant's voluntary arrangement and payment for his own hospitalization, despite the totality of custody maintained through electronic monitoring, does not satisfy the coerciveness requirement.


Headnotes

[1] Jail credit may be awarded for time served prior to conviction in any institution serving as the functional equivalent of a county jail.

[2] A defendant is not entitled to jail credit for time spent in a private hospital prior to arrest when no charges are pending and the defendant is not awaiting trial or sen…

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Key Quotes

“for all of the time he spent in the county jail before sentence”

Standard language of the jail credit statute, § 921.161(1), which the court interprets to include functional equivalents of county jail

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Facts & Procedural History

Roberts, age 17, was arrested and indicted for first degree murder. While awaiting trial in county jail, he exhibited signs of depression and anxiety.…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The appellant, Richard Scott Roberts, challenges the sentence imposed following his plea of nolo contendere to second degree murder. Specifically, appellant asserts error in the trial court’s supplemental sentencing order denying jail credit for time appellant spent in a private psychiatric hospital prior to trial. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the trial court’s denial of credit.

The appellant was 17 years old when he was arrested and indicted on a charge of first degree murder. While in county jail awaiting trial, appellant allegedly exhibited signs of depression and anxiety. Consequently, appellant filed a motion proposing that he be admitted, at his family’s expense, for evaluation and treatment at Ri-vendell Psychiatric Hospital, a private acute care facility in Panama City. At a hearing on the motion, defense counsel conceded that a psychiatric evaluation that had been performed in the interim indicated that there was no necessity for further evaluation, but that a transfer to Rivendell for treatment pending trial “would be helpful.” At this point, defense counsel suggested the possibility of fitting appellant with an electronic monitoring device during his stay at Rivendell and, subsequently, counsel put on proof establishing the feasibility of electronic monitoring by the Leon County Pretrial Release Program. After hearing argument from counsel, and despite noting the prosecutor’s “vehement objection” to the Rivendell arrangement, the trial judge announced his intention to order appellant transported'. This was accomplished by means of an order denying appellant’s initial motion for release on recognizance, but permitting “continued pretrial detention” under specified terms and condi tions.1

When appellant eventually pled nolo con-tendere to second degree murder, he filed a motion for jail credit that included the entire 148-day period of pretrial confinement at Rivendell. After hearing argument at the sentencing hearing, the trial judge denied the motion with a supplemental sentencing order. The trial judge noted that the “express intent” of the Rivendell transfer was “to extend the limits of the confinement of the county jail constructively to said private hospital facility.” However, the motion was denied in apparent reliance upon our decision in Morgan v. State, 557 So. 2d 605 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), which the trial judge interpreted as limiting jail credit to those who are involuntarily committed to a state mental institution as opposed to a private hospital.

On appeal, the appellant argues that Morgan is distinguishable, and that the trial judge should have awarded jail credit under Tal-Mason v. State, 515 So. 2d 738 (Fla.1987). The state responds that the reasoning employed in Tal-Mason is consistent with the denial of credit, even though credit was awarded under the facts of Tal-Mason.

Section 921.161(1), Florida Statutes (1991), provides that a defendant shall be credited “for all of the time he spent in the county jail before sentence.” Credit may be awarded, however, even where pretrial detention is in some place other than the county jail, as the statute has been held to require credit “for time served prior to conviction in any institution serving as the functional equivalent of a county jail.” Tal-Mason, 515 So. 2d at 740 (emphasis in original). Thus, in Tal-Mason, the supreme court held that a defendant who was committed to a state mental institution after having been deemed incompetent to stand trial was entitled to jail credit for the five years he spent in state custody undergoing treatment prior to trial.

We agree with appellant that our opinion in Morgan, supra, is not dispositive of the instant case. In Morgan, the defendant sought credit for time spent in a private hospital prior to his formal arrest. We affirmed the denial of credit in Morgan, not because the time was spent in a private as opposed to a state facility as suggested by the trial court below, but because there was no indication that charges were pending during Morgan’s hospital stay. In short, the hospital was not “the functional equivalent of a county jail,” as explained in Tal-Mason, where no charges were pending and the defendant was not awaiting trial or sentencing.

Though we agree with the appellant that Tal-Mason provides more guidance on the question of jail credit, we do not find that the supreme court’s opinion requires an award of credit under the peculiar facts of the instant case. Appellant emphasizes the totality of his confinement at Rivendell, arguing that this was the basis for the award of credit in Tal-Mason. It is true that the supreme court emphasized the extent to which Tal-Mason’s confinement constituted “a complete deprivation of liberty” in which the state “assumed total, if constructive, custody ... as though he were in the county jail.” Tal-Mason, 515 So. 2d at 739, 740. It is also true, however, that the confinement must be coercive or involuntary. Distinguishing its earlier decision in Pennington v. State, 398 So. 2d 815 (Fla.1981), the supreme court emphasized that Tal-Mason’s confinement was not of his choosing, nor was it the product of any agreement with the state. Id. at 739. Thus, the deprivation of liberty, in addition to being “complete,” must also be “coercive.” See Tal-Mason, 515 So. 2d at 739 (emphasis in original).

Even if it could be said that total custody was achieved under the Rivendell arrangement, the transfer was clearly not coercive or involuntary. Far from being thrust upon appellant, the Rivendell transfer was done at appellant’s instigation. Appellant went to great lengths to gain the trial court’s approval, agreeing to pay all costs of the hospitalization. When questions arose concerning the security of the facility, it was appellant who suggested electronic monitoring, established the feasibility of such technology, and agreed to pay for same. All of this was over the vehement objection of the prosecutor, who argued to the trial judge that “it would be a terrible mistake ... to ever even consider a residential facility which is nothing more than a means of getting out of the county jail.” In short, Rivendell was not “the functional equivalent of a county jail,” where appellant’s transfer was not coercive or involuntary.

Accordingly, the trial court’s denial of jail credit is AFFIRMED.

BOOTH, MINER and ALLEN, JJ., concur. . The terms and conditions of the transfer included the following: (1) 24-hour electronic monitoring by the Leon County Pretrial Release Program; (2) Rivendell’s written commitment to confine appellant to the maximum extent of its security; (3) appellant must not leave Riven-dell except pursuant to court order; and (4) in addition to paying for Rivendell, appellant’s family would bear all costs of electronic monitoring and transport.


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Citator

Cited By

  • McCARTHY v. State, 689 So. 2d 1095 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)
    …incompetence to stand trial. The court ruled that the “coercive commitment to a state institution was indistinguishable from pretrial detention in a ‘jail,’ as that term is understood in common and legal usage.” Id. at 739. Compare Roberts v. State, 622 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (holding that defendant was not entitled to credit for time spent in a private psychiatric hospital because the confinement was not coercive or involuntary), rev. denied, 634 So. 2d 626 (Fla. 1994). Incarceration has been defined…
  • Ozbourn v. State, 651 So. 2d 795 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
    …tion and been convicted and sentenced to time served (both in jail and as a mental patient). Compare Tal-Mason v. State, 515 So. 2d 738 (Fla.1987) (credit for pretrial involuntary commitment should be allowed against sentence) with Roberts v. State, 622 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (no credit required where pretrial stay in mental hospital was voluntary). No appeal was taken from the judgment of conviction. Appeal From Incompetency Determination Moot The notice of appeal which initiated these proceedings…
  • Maxim Ben Shmuel v. State, 691 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)
    …endant was not entitled to credit for time served on house arrest, Fernandez v. State, 627 So. 2d 1, 2 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993), or for defendant’s pretrial stay in a private mental hospital, which was arranged and paid for by defendant. Roberts v. State, 622 So. 2d 628, 629-30 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). We conclude, however, that defendant is entitled to credit for time served in Ward D at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was held for certain mental evaluations. It is the court’s understanding that Ward D serves as…

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