WILLIAM SYLVESTER COOPER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Cooper appealed the denial of his motion for belated appeal from a partial denial/partial grant of his Rule 3.850 postconviction motion. The trial court erroneously concluded that such a mixed order was not final and appealable. The appellate court reversed, holding that an order denying some claims and granting others in a postconviction motion is final and appealable despite pending action on the granted portion.
An order denying in part and granting in part relief on a postconviction motion is final and appealable. The order marks the end of judicial labor on the motion and is final for appellate purposes, even if the granted portion requires subsequent action such as resentencing.
[1] An order that denies one claim in a postconviction motion and grants an evidentiary hearing on another claim in the same motion is not appealable until all issues raised…
[2] An order denying in part and granting in part relief on a postconviction motion marks the end of the trial court's labor on that motion and is considered a final order fo…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“An order which denies a claim in a postconviction motion and grants an evidentiary hearing on a different claim in the same motion is not appealable until all issues raised have been ruled upon by the court.”
Establishes the distinction between mixed orders that are not final (those granting evidentiary hearings) and those that are final (those denying and granting relief).
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCooper filed a Rule 3.850 postconviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel on two bases: one regarding sentencing and one regard…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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[*933] PER CURIAM.
William Cooper challenges the denial of his motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, in which he sought a belated appeal with the trial court from an order ruling on an earlier motion filed pursuant to the same criminal rule. The trial court found that the order for which he sought belated review was not an appealable, final order, and accordingly denied his motion. This erroneous conclusion mandates reversal.
In the first of his collateral motions pertinent to this appeal Mr. Cooper asserted that trial counsel was ineffective on two bases, one pertaining to his sentence and the other to his conviction. After an evidentiary hearing the trial court found merit in his claim regarding sentencing, and rejected that which dealt with the underlying conviction. Over three months after the court order was entered, Mr. Cooper filed a pleading entitled “motion for leave to file a belated appeal,” in which he alleges he timely advised court-appointed counsel that he wished to prosecute an appeal from that part of the collateral motion which had been denied. This motion, properly treated as seeking posteon-viction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, was denied by the trial court on the basis that the order denying in part and granting in part his earlier Rule 3.850 motion was not a final order and consequently was not appealable.
An order which denies a claim in a postconviction motion and grants an evidentiary hearing on a different claim in the same motion is not appealable until all issues raised have been ruled upon by the court. Judicial economy favors this rule which forbids piecemeal appeals until all pending matters raised in a single motion have been resolved and which can then be efficiently reviewed in one appellate proceeding. An order denying in part and granting in part relief, however, marks the end of the judicial labor which is to be expended on the motion, and the order is final for appellate purposes. And, as here, if the part of the motion which is granted requires subsequent action on the principal case under attack, such as resentencing, we perceive no jurisdictional impediment imposed by the appeal from the post-conviction motion to prevent that action.
The state’s right to appeal the ruling affording Mr. Cooper a new sentencing hearing accrued at the time the motion for postcon-viction relief was granted in part. State v. Michael, 530 So. 2d 929 (Fla.1988), confirms the state’s right to seek review of an adverse ruling finding ineffectiveness of trial counsel mandates a new sentencing hearing. And Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850(g) provides for the appellate remedy to aggrieved movants. Either party could have sought review of the order denying in part and granting in part the postconviction motion.
Without passing on the merit of Mr. Cooper’s entitlement to a belated appeal, we reverse the trial court and conclude that the order in question is an appealable, final order. Reversed and remanded.
RYDER, A.C.J., and BLUE and FULMER, JJ., concur.
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Lamont Taylor v. State, 140 So. 3d 526 (Fla. 2014)…(Fla. 5th DCA 2012), which the Fifth District certified is in direct conflict with the decisions of the First District Court of Appeal in Slocum v. State, 95 So. 3d 911 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012), and the Second District Court of Appeal in Cooper v. State, 667 So. 2d 932 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996).1 The certified conflict issue presented in this case is whether an order disposing of a postconviction motion which partially denies and partially grants relief is a final order for purposes of appeal, when the relief granted req…
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Slocum v. State, 95 So. 3d 911 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012)…the motion which is granted requires subsequent action on the principal case under attack, such as resentencing, [there is] no jurisdictional impediment imposed by the appeal from the postcon-viction motion to prevent that action. Cooper v. State, 667 So. 2d 932, 933 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996). We have held that “resen-tencing [in the original case] is a de novo proceeding,” Jones v. State, 35 So. 3d 69, 70 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010), legally discrete from the collateral proceeding. Because no notice of appeal was filed…
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Libertelli v. State, 775 So. 2d 339 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000)…We must again dismiss Libertelli’s appeal because there is no final order. The trial court’s order of December 1, 1999, is not an appealable order because it does not dispose of the entire motion. See Libertelli, 755 So. 2d at 122; Cooper v. State, 667 So. 2d 932 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996). The State’s response does not make the trial court’s order any more final. Therefore, this appeal is premature and must be dismissed. However, the dismissal is without prejudice to Libertelli filing a notice of appeal once the tr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Michael, 530 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 1988)