RICHARD REYES, PETITIONER,
v.
CHARLES MCCRAY, DIRECTOR, DADE CO. DEPT. OF CORR., RESPONDENT

Fla. 3d DCA | 2004-08-11
No. 3D04-806
Before RAMIREZ and SHEPHERD, JJ., and COBB, WARREN H., Senior Judge.
879 So. 2d 1269 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2004) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Richard Reyes petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus after a trial court ordered him to submit to a drug test at his arraignment without legal authorization, and then revoked his bail when the test was positive. The appellate court granted the petition, holding that the court lacked authority to order the drug test sua sponte and that any subsequent detention violated due process.


Holding

The court held that the trial court lacked authority to order the drug test sua sponte. The bail bond condition requiring submission to court orders relates only to orders concerning the proceeding at hand, not to arbitrary orders unrelated to the charges or conduct at the hearing. The court also held that no probable cause existed to order detention based on the positive drug test, and the detention violated due process.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court cannot sua sponte order a defendant to submit to a drug test at arraignment without any evidence or finding of impairment or violation of a court order.

[2] A bail bond contract requiring a defendant to "submit to orders and process of said Court and not depart from same without leave" does not authorize a trial judge to orde…

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Key Quotes

“The provision does not authorize a trial judge to become a prosecutor, issuing orders without any cause whatsoever, not to mention probable cause.”

Establishes that the bail bond condition does not justify arbitrary sua sponte orders unrelated to the proceeding itself.

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Facts & Procedural History

Reyes was arrested on January 6, 2004 for marijuana cultivation and possession charges and released on bond. At his January 27, 2004 arraignment, befo…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This case comes before us on the petition of Richard Reyes for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 4(b)(3), Fla. Const.

On January 6, 2004, the Petitioner, Richard Reyes, was arrested on one count of unlawful cultivation of marijuana and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, both in violation of § 893.13, Fla. Stat. (2003). Petitioner was released on bond.

On January 27, 2004, Reyes appeared without counsel for arraignment. At the arraignment, before petitioner was given the opportunity to enter a formal plea, the court sua sponte ordered Reyes to submit to an immediate drug test with the stern warning, “You better be clean.” Reyes tested positive for cocaine and was taken into custody.

On February 4, 2004, Reyes appeared with counsel at a second arraignment. Petitioner’s counsel moved the court to either reinstate the original bond or impose a new bond with new conditions. The court refused noting that Reyes committed a new offense by testing positive for drugs the week before. Thereafter, Petitioner’s counsel lodged a petition for writ of habeas corpus with this court on the above facts. We grant the petition.

The State argues that the language of the bail contract signed by Petitioner in this ease which requires that he “shall submit to orders and process of said Court and not depart from same without leave .... ” provides the authorization necessary for the sua sponte drug testing of the accused in this case.

We disagree.

The record reflects that at no time prior to or during the January 27 hearing was the Defendant charged with violating a court order or court decorum. Nor is there any evidence or findings by the trial court that the Defendant was in any way impaired at the hearing. As we read this condition of the bail bond contract, the Defendant must simply comply with orders relating to the proceeding at hand. The provision does not authorize a trial judge to become a prosecutor, issuing orders without any cause whatsoever, not to mention probable cause.

In a perversion of logic, the State also seeks to justify the trial court’s action by reference to § 903.0471, Fla. Stat. (2000), which reads:

Notwithstanding § 907.041, a court may, on its own motion, revoke pretrial release and order pretrial detention if the court finds probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a new crime while on pretrial release.

However, probable cause did not exist to take Petitioner into custody at the January 27 hearing. And, of course, it would be a violation of due process to manufacture it after the fact. See, e.g., Times Publ’g Co. v. Burke, 375 So. 2d 297, 299 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979) (after the fact determination that First Amendment protection was unavailable did not suffice to afford reporter due process when reporter was called to testify regarding investigation without notice or subpoena).

Furthermore, if, as it appears may be the case from the State’s briefing, the State seeks to justify the trial court’s action on the grounds of drug-related or other criminal activity that preceded the instant incident, that likewise fails constitutional muster. See State v. Van Pieterson, 550 So. 2d 1162 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989) (application for search warrant that included a recitation of past criminal history insufficient). Indeed, the Petitioner’s past conduct should have been and presumably was considered when he was first released on bond. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.131(b)(3); Harp v. Hinckley, 410 So. 2d 619, 624 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982).

We make no comment here on the rights or obligations of the trial judge had some ongoing criminal activity been evident from Petitioner’s conduct at the hearing. Nevertheless, for the reasons explained in this opinion, we grant the petition for writ of habeas corpus, and direct that the detention based upon the sua sponte drug test ordered by the trial court be vacated.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Tavia Smith v. McRAY, 907 So. 2d 575 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005)
    …ndings that the petitioner was in any way impaired at the hearing. Simply put, there was no probable cause to take the petitioner into custody. See § 903.046, Fla. Stat. (2004); Hernandez v. McCray, 879 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004); Reyes v. McCray, 879 So. 2d 1269 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004). [*577] Under these circumstances, the trial court erred in ordering the petitioner detained with no bond. Accordingly, we grant the petition for writ of habeas corpus and direct that the petitioner be released forthwith and that…
  • Pullins v. McCRAY, 884 So. 2d 449 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)
    …petitioner, a criminal defendant on bond making a routine appearance before the circuit court, was summarily ordered to be drug tested, taken into custody and had his bond revoked under circumstances virtually identical to those in Reyes v. McCray, 879 So. 2d 1269 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) and Hernandez v. McCray, 879 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004). On the authority of those cases, we grant habeas corpus, vacate the revocation and order the defendant released from custody on his reinstated bond. Habeas Corpus grante…
  • Nestor Miranda v. Reyes (Fla. 3d DCA 2023)
    …orroboration of the hearsay statements contained in the email, nor did the court indicate that it observed Miranda to be impaired or under the influence. Under these circumstances, this case falls squarely within the holdings of Reyes v. McCray, 879 So. 2d 1269, 1270 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) (issuing writ of habeas corpus based upon a trial court’s sua sponte order of a defendant’s drug test without probable cause), and Smith v. McRay, 907 So. 2d 575, 576 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005) (“The record shows that the petitio…

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