GEORGE AMADOR, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, MICHAEL W. MOORE, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, AND KATHLEEN KEARNEY, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, RESPONDENTS
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Amador seeks habeas corpus relief challenging his detention under Florida's Jimmy Ryce Act (involuntary civil commitment of sexually violent predators), arguing he was denied a speedy trial as required by statute. The Fourth District Court of Appeal transfers the petition to the Second District Court of Appeal based on lack of appellate jurisdiction over the underlying circuit court order.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal lacks jurisdiction to review the Collier County judge's order denying discharge because the order is neither void nor illegal, and the circuit court lies outside the Fourth District's territorial jurisdiction. The petition is transferred to the Second District Court of Appeal, which has appellate jurisdiction over Collier County.
[1] Habeas corpus review by an appellate court is limited to orders that are void or illegal, not merely defective, irregular, or insufficient.
[2] A civil commitment procedure for sexually violent predators is not a criminal proceeding.
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 intelligence“the scope of our inquiry is limited to whether the court outside our territorial jurisdiction was without jurisdiction to do so or whether the order is "void or illegal."”
Establishes the limited scope of appellate review for habeas corpus petitions from courts outside the reviewing court's jurisdiction
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAmador was convicted of sexual offenses in Collier County. Before his release date, the state sought his civil commitment under the Jimmy Ryce Act. A …
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KLEIN, J.
Petitioner, who seeks a writ of ha-beas corpus, was convicted of sexual offenses in Collier County.1 Before his release date the state sought to have him committed under sections 394.910— 394.931, Florida Statutes (1999), entitled “Involuntary Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators,” also known as the Jimmy Ryce Act. The trial court found probable cause to detain petitioner after his completion of his prison sentences, and he is presently detained under the Act in Martin County. The ground of his petition is that he has been denied a speedy trial under the Act, which provides that the court shall conduct the trial within thirty days after the probable cause determination. Section 394.916(1).
Although petitioner is now detained in Martin County, which is within this court’s appellate jurisdiction, the petition is directed to an order of a circuit court judge in Collier County who denied petitioner’s motion for discharge. Collier County is within the appellate jurisdiction of the Second District Court of Appeal. The state correctly points out that our jurisdiction, under these circumstances, is very limited. The scope of our inquiry is limited to whether the court outside our territorial jurisdiction was without jurisdiction to do so or whether the order is “void or illegal.” Alachua Reg’l Juvenile Detention Ctr. v. T.O., 684 So. 2d 814 (Fla.1996). We cannot review an order of such a court where the order is “merely defective, irregular, or insufficient in form or substance.” Id. at 816.
Considering that this is not a criminal proceeding, but rather a “civil commitment procedure for the long-term care and treatment of sexually violent predators,” section 394.910, we conclude that the Collier County judge’s order refusing to discharge petitioner for a violation of his right to a speedy trial is not a void or illegal order over which we are authorized to exercise habeas corpus review. T.O.
We therefore transfer the case, as the state contends we should, to the Second District Court of Appeal. Fla.R.App.P. 9.040(b).
STONE and HAZOURI, JJ., concur. . In his petition, petitioner named as additional parties the circuit judge and the assistant state attorney as respondents. We have deleted them as parties because the proper respondent in a habeas corpus proceeding is the party having actual custody and who can physically produce the petitioner. Alachua Reg'l Juvenile Detention Ctr. v. T.O., 684 So. 2d 814 (Fla. 1996). The state alleges that the Department of Children and Families is in charge of the detention of petitioner, although the physical facility appears to be in the South Bay Correctional Institution, which is operated by the Department of Corrections.
. In Valdez v. Moore, 745 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), we granted habeas corpus review of orders of a circuit judge in Pinellas County, which is within the appellate jurisdiction of the Second District Court of Appeal, because in those cases petitioners were being denied due process, and the orders were thus void or illegal. Valdez is thus distinguishable from the present case. In Meadows v. Krischer, 763 So. 2d 1087 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), we denied a petition for habeas corpus filed by a sex offender being detained under the Jimmy Ryce Act who was raising the same type of speedy trial claim as is being raised in the present case. We held that the failure to bring petitioner to trial within thirty days did not entitle him to be released. Meadows is distinguishable from the present case in that the order we were reviewing in Meadows was entered by a circuit judge in Palm Beach County, which is within our appellate jurisdiction.
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Citator
Cited By
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State v. Osborne, 781 So. 2d 1137 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)…Act the time of commencement of trial may be extended for good cause, the statutory thirty-day time limitation is directory and does not establish a procedural bar so as to divest the trial court of jurisdiction to proceed. Also, in Amador v. State, 766 So. 2d 1061 (Fla. 4th''DCA 2000) the Fourth District concluded, at least by implication, that the thirty-day time limit is not jurisdictional. In that case, a habeas corpus petition was filed by a defendant alleging that the commitment case had not been tried w…
Authorities Cited
- Alachua Reg'l Juv. Detention Ctr. v. T.O., 684 So. 2d 814 (Fla. 1996)
- Cal King v. State, 745 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999)
- Valdez v. Moore, 745 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)
- Linder v. Wash. Mut. Bank, 763 So. 2d 1087 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)