LEO JEAN-GILLES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2006-03-08
No. 4D04-2436
WARNER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.
921 So. 2d 860 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2006) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

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Holding

The court held that the timely filing of both an affidavit and a warrant is required to toll a probationary period, and a revocation order must be supported by evidence presented for the violations found.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court lacks jurisdiction to revoke probation if an affidavit alleging a violation is not filed prior to the expiration of the probationary period.

[2] The timely filing of an affidavit and the issuance of a warrant are both required to toll a probationary period.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant Leo Jean-Gilles's probation was revoked, but the state conceded that evidence was only presented for two of the seven alleged violations. Th…

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Opinion of the Court
HAZOURI, J.

HAZOURI, J.

The first issue in this case is whether the trial court had jurisdiction to revoke Appellant Leo Jean-Gilles’s probation where a warrant, but no affidavit, was filed prior to the termination of Jean-Gilles’s probationary period. Jean-Gilles argues that because an affidavit was not filed within the requisite time period, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke his probation. The state disagrees, arguing that the timely filing of an affidavit should be inferred where an amended affidavit was filed after the probationary period expired. We decline to accept the state’s position and remand this case for a determination of whether an affidavit was filed prior to the expiration of Jean-Gilles’s probationary period.

The applicable statute explicitly requires the filing of an affidavit and a warrant. Section 948.06, Florida Statutes (2003), reads as follows:

Upon the filing of an affidavit alleging a violation of probation or community control and following issuance of a warrant under s. 901.02, the probationary period is tolled until the court enters a ruling on the violation. Notwithstanding the tolling of probation as provided in this subsection, the court shall retain jurisdiction over the offender for any violation of the conditions of probation or community control that is alleged to have occurred during the tolling period.

§ 948.06(1), Fla. Stat. (2003) (emphasis added).

In Stambaugh v. State, 891 So. 2d 1136 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), this court addressed a similar situation where an affidavit was filed, but no warrant. Noting the statutory language, the court held that the probationary period was not tolled in Stambaugh, stating “[wjithout the issuance of an arrest warrant, the January 28, 2004 VOP affidavit did not toll the probationary period.” Stambaugh, 891 So. 2d at 1139. In Sepulveda v. State, 909 So. 2d 568, 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005), the court explained, “[bjoth the filing of an affidavit of violation and the issuance of an arrest warrant are required to toll the probationary period _” (emphasis added).

We recognize the difference between a missing affidavit and a missing warrant, as a warrant cannot be obtained without a supporting affidavit.

Nevertheless, the statute is clear that both are required in order for the trial court to retain jurisdiction to revoke probation.

Thus, we decline to find the statute is satisfied by an inference. We therefore remand for the trial court to determine whether an affidavit was filed prior to the expiration of Jean-Gilles’s probation. Although the clerk of the trial court has reported that no affidavit was filed on the date the warrant was filed, it may be that the affidavit was misfiled or was filed on a different date. We choose to allow the trial court to make a factual determination as to whether one was filed within the requisite time. If the court determines that an affidavit was not filed, it should vacate the order of revocation.

Should the trial court determine that the requisite affidavit was filed, the next issue presented is whether the trial court’s revocation of probation order must be reversed where it includes seven violations and as the state acknowledges, evidence was only presented as to two of the violations.

The state argues that where there was evidence presented as to two violations, these violations were sufficient to revoke Jean-Gilles’s probation and thus, the only relief, if any, need be to remand the order to have it corrected to reflect the two violations. We decline to fully accept the state’s position, instead determining that on remand the court should review its order and conform its findings to the evidence presented. Once the findings are conformed to the evidence presented, the trial court should then proceed to make a determination as to whether such findings support revoking Jean-Gilles’s probation.

The reason we decline to accept the state’s position is that the determination of whether a defendant has violated his probation is a question of fact to be determined by a trial court. See Lindsay v. State, 839 So. 2d 829, 829 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). The factual findings are the basis for the trial court’s determination on this issue. The state has the burden to prove by the greater weight of the evidence that the defendant violated his probation and such violation must be willful and substantial to trigger a revocation. Steiner v. State, 604 So. 2d 1265, 1267 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992).

Accordingly, should the trial court find an affidavit was timely filed, the trial court shall proceed to review its revocation order and make determinations in accordance with this opinion.

Reversed and Remanded.

WARNER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Shenfeld v. State, 14 So. 3d 1021 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
    …the issuance of an arrest warrant. See id. If the defendant’s probation period had expired and these requirements were not met, the trial court did not have jurisdiction to hear the application for revocation of probation. See Jean-Gilles v. State, 921 So. 2d 860, 862 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). In 2007, prior to the expiration of Shen-feld’s term of probation, the Florida Legislature amended section 948.06(1), Florida Statutes to allow for tolling of the probationary period “[ujpon the filing of an affidavit alle…
  • Jones v. State, 964 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)
    …re filing of affidavit of violation does not ensure court’s jurisdiction over defendant for revoking probation after probationary period has ended; an arrest warrant must ensue from the violations alleged in the affidavit). In Jean-Gilles v. State, 921 So. 2d 860, 861 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), the court held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to revoke probation where a warrant, but no affidavit of violation of probation, was filed before the defendant’s probationary period ended. Both the filing of an affi…
  • Ford v. State, 994 So. 2d 1244 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
    …OP before expiration. Stambaugh v. State, 891 So. 2d 1136, 1139 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005). Here no warrant was ever issued on the alleged Okeechobee County violation, and therefore defendant’s probationary period was not tolled.2 See Jean-Gilles v. State, 921 So. 2d 860 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (saying that § 948.06(l)(d) clearly requires both filing of affidavit and issuance of arrest warrant before probationary term expires); Stambaugh, 891 So. 2d at 1137 (holding that the filing of affidavit without issuing arrest wa…

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