STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
LEROY OFFILL, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2003-02-12
No. 2D01-5273
SALCINES and STRINGER, JJ„ Concur.
837 So. 2d 533 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2003) Caution
Cited by 7 cases

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Synopsis

The State appealed the trial court's dismissal of criminal charges against Leroy Offill, who had been found incompetent to stand trial. The appellate court reversed and remanded, holding that Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.213(a) governs the dismissal procedure and requires a proper evidentiary hearing with specific findings before charges can be dismissed.


Holding

Rule 3.213(a) controls because the conflict between the statute and rule is procedural in nature, and procedural matters are governed by rule. The rule requires a hearing and specific findings on three issues before dismissal: (1) the defendant remains incompetent, (2) there is no substantial probability of future competency, and (3) the defendant does not meet commitment criteria. The trial court failed to conduct a proper hearing addressing these issues and failed to make required findings.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court loses jurisdiction to enter further orders once a notice of appeal is filed.

[2] A nunc pro tunc order cannot be used to regain jurisdiction that has been divested by the filing of a notice of appeal.

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Key Quotes

“the rule seems to presume competence upon the passage of five years unless continued incompetence can be shown by competent evidence. The rule further requires a hearing for consideration of such evidence.”

Establishes the key distinction between the statute's and rule's treatment of the presumption regarding competency, with the rule requiring an evidentiary hearing.

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Facts & Procedural History

Leroy Offill had been previously found incompetent to proceed to trial due to mental illness. More than five years after the incompetency order was en…

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Opinion of the Court
DAVIS, Judge.

DAVIS, Judge.

The State challenges the trial court’s dismissal of criminal charges against Leroy Offill. The trial court dismissed the charges pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.213(a). We reverse and remand for an appropriate evidentiary hearing.

We note initially that the trial court entered two orders of dismissal, the second and more detailed of which we may not consider due to the trial court’s lack of jurisdiction to enter it. In the first order, filed on November 6, 2001, the court simply stated that it was granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss for expiration of the five-year period since entry of the incompetency order. The second order, filed on January 9, 2002, was more detailed, specifying that (1) Offill had previously been found incompetent to proceed to trial due to a mental illness and was unlikely to be restored to competency as defined in section 916.106(11), Florida Statutes (2002); (2) the charges were dismissed without prejudice pursuant to rule 3.213(a); and (3) because Offill had been conditionally released and monitored by Mental Health Care, Inc., and had complied with treatment, he was released from the jurisdiction of the court.

However, before the court entered the January 9, 2002, order, the State filed its notice of appeal on November 6, 2001, thus divesting the trial court of jurisdiction. Although the trial court attempted to regain jurisdiction by making its January 2002 order nunc pro tunc to October 22, 2001, that attempt was ineffective. See Holland v. State, 634 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). Accordingly, the specific findings contained in the January 2002 order are null and void, leaving the earlier November 6, 2001, order as the only order on appeal.

We next observe that the statute addressing this situation, section 916.145, Florida Statutes (2001), appears to conflict with the corresponding rule of criminal procedure, rule 3.213, concerning the presumption that applies to competency determinations. Section 916.145 provides that the court shall dismiss the charges after the expiration of five years unless the court specifies why it believes the defendant will become competent in the foreseeable future. By contrast, the rule provides that after the expiration of five years, the court shall dismiss the charges if it finds, after a hearing, that (1) the defendant remains incompetent to stand trial, (2) there is no substantial probability that the defendant will become mentally competent to stand trial, and (3) the defendant does not meet the criteria for commitment. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.213.

The distinction between the statute and the rule is procedural in nature since the difference is based on allocation of the presumption. While the statute presumes continued incompetence upon the passage of five years, the rule seems to presume competence upon the passage of five years unless continued incompetence can be shown by competent evidence. The rule further requires a hearing for consideration of such evidence.

Because matters of procedure are generally governed by rule while matters of substance are governed by statute, Hart v. State, 405 So. 2d 1048 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981), and the distinction here is procedural, we conclude that rule 3.213 controls. This rule, however, requires the trial court to hold a hearing and make findings in three specific areas before dismissing the charges. The record on appeal reveals that the hearing conducted here did not address any of the rule’s three specific issues. The order on appeal also did not contain the appropriate findings. Accord ingly, we reverse and remand with directions to the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing and make the required findings in support of its determination.

We also note that the order on appeal lacks the required language that would dismiss the charges without prejudice to the State refiling them if the defendant subsequently becomes competent. See State v. Johns, 651 So. 2d 1227 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995).

As a final note, we observe that, due to the apparent conflict between the rule and the statute, resolution of this issue would be helpful to the courts that are subsequently faced with this issue.

Reversed and remanded.

SALCINES and STRINGER, JJ„ Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Herbits v. The City OF Miami, 197 So. 3d 575 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016)
    …ice of appeal divested the trial court of jurisdiction to enter any further orders in this case. Jory v. State, 699 So. 2d 820, 822 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997). Any order entered by the trial court without jurisdiction is null and void. See State v. Offill, 837 So. 2d 533 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). No doubt the parties, and the trial court, treated the case as one in which the trial court had continuing jurisdiction; but jurisdiction cannot be bestowed upon a trial court by either stipulation or the parties’ mistaken belie…
  • State v. Tillman, 297 So. 3d 594 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
    …and GERBER, JJ., concur. 1 See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.213(a) (“A dismissal under this rule shall be without prejudice to the state to refile the charge(s) should the defendant be declared competent to proceed in the future.”); see also State v. Offill, 837 So. 2d 533, 535 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (noting that an order of dismissal pursuant to rule 3.213(a) is without prejudice to the state’s ability to refile the dismissed charges “if the defendant subsequently becomes competent”).…
  • Yuri Jesus v. State, 31 So. 3d 309 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)
    …third degree felony. Once the notice of appeal was filed, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter the corrected judgment nunc pro tunc to the date of the first judgment. See Kosa v. State, 923 So. 2d 1285 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006); State v. Offill, 837 So. 2d 533 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Campbell v. State, 789 So. 2d 1213 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). Thus, the only order on appeal is the original judgment. The evidence at trial established only that appellant attempted to enter a structure. The evidence thus supports a…

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