ROLANDO OTERO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's revocation of Otero's probation, rejecting his challenges to the court's jurisdiction. Otero attempted to relitigate issues previously decided on the merits and raised new claims for the first time on appeal, both of which the court found procedurally barred.
The court affirmed the revocation, holding that: (1) Otero cannot relitigate issues previously decided on the merits under the law of the case doctrine; (2) the Villery claim was inapplicable to the facts and was raised for the first time on appeal; and (3) the trial court had jurisdiction to conduct the revocation proceeding because the issues before it concerned only the facts of the probation violation and would not interfere with the appellate court's jurisdiction over the pending Rule 3.800 motion.
[1] Issues previously litigated and decided on the merits in an earlier appeal are precluded from relitigation under the law of the case doctrine.
[2] A defendant cannot raise a claim on appeal that was not raised in the trial court proceedings.
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“Appellant cannot relitigate issues decided previously.”
Establishes that the law of the case doctrine prevents relitigation of the jurisdictional issue Otero raised in his prior appeal.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOtero was on probation and the state filed an affidavit of violation. During a hearing on the violation, the trial court revoked Otero's probation. Ot…
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WARNER, J.
We affirm the order of revocation of probation against appellant’s attacks on the trial court’s jurisdiction. Appellant’s claims have either been previously litigated or were not raised during the trial court proceedings.
In a prior appeal, we considered appellant’s challenge to the trial court’s jurisdiction in which he claimed he was never on probation for . his crimes. Otero v. State, 793 So. 2d 1115 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). We reversed and remanded to allow the state to produce an order placing appellant on probation. In the subsequent proceeding, the state found and presented the order of probation, and the trial court denied the motion to correct the sentence. We per curiam affirmed that order. Otero v. State, 857 So. 2d 891 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). During the pendency of that appeal, the trial court conducted a hearing on the state’s affidavit of violation of probation. The court revoked appellant’s probation, and he appeals.
In this appeal, appellant again challenges the original order of probation on the same ground he raised in the prior appeal, even though this ground was not raised as an issue in his revocation proceeding. Appellant cannot relitigate issues decided previously. See Vaughan v. State, 765 So. 2d 56, 56 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (“The law of the case doctrine applies when the defendant seeks to litigate a specific issue decided on the merits in an earlier post conviction proceeding regarding the legality of the sentence.”); Sheffield v. State, 605 So. 2d 1323, 1324-25 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (finding ruling in prior appeal was law of the case precluding consideration of the same issue in subsequent appeal).
Appellant raises a new claim on appeal that the original order of probation violates Villery v. Florida Parole & Probastion Commission, 396 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 1980). This claim was also not raised in the trial court. In any event, Villery is inapplicable under the facts of this case. See Tobin v. State, 401 So. 2d 938 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); cf. Knight v. State, 522 So. 2d 1076 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988).
Finally, appellant claims that the court was without jurisdiction to proceed on the revocation because of the pending appeal on his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800 motion. We disagree. The issues before the trial court during the revocation proceeding consisted' only of the facts of the probation violation. The court’s resolution of the revocation issues would not interfere with our jurisdiction to determine the issues in the prior appeal. See Lindsay v. State, 842 So. 2d 1057, 1059 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003).
Affirmed.
GUNTHER and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Villery v. The Fla. Parole & Prob. Comm'n, 396 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 1980)
- Lindsay v. State, 842 So. 2d 1057 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
- Otero v. State, 793 So. 2d 1115 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)
- Zayre Corp. & Am. Mut. Ins. Cos. v. Betty E. Moll & the Div. of Workers' Comp. of the Dep't of Labor & Emp. Sec., 401 So. 2d 938 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
- Vaughan v. State, 765 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
- Schumacher v. ONE Stop Lawn & Garden Ctr. & Interface Eng'g, Inc., 522 So. 2d 1076 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)
- Sheffield v. State, 605 So. 2d 1323 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)