DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, PETITIONER,
v.
TERESA ANN GILLILAND AND STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENTS

Fla. 5th DCA | 2007-02-02
No. 5D06-2626
PALMER and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
947 So. 2d 1262 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2007) Positive Treatment
Cited by 19 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

The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal granted the Department of Children and Families' petition for writ of certiorari and quashed a trial court's order committing Teresa Ann Gilliland, an incompetent felony defendant, to the Department's custody. The court held that Gilliland's progressive dementia does not meet the statutory requirement for commitment because there is little probability she will regain competency in the foreseeable future.


Holding

A defendant adjudicated incompetent to proceed does not meet the statutory criteria for commitment under section 916.13(1)(c), Florida Statutes, when there is little or no probability that the defendant will regain competency in the reasonably foreseeable future. The trial court's commitment order was improper because Gilliland's progressive dementia does not satisfy the requirement of a substantial probability that treatment will restore competency.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant adjudicated incompetent to proceed to trial may be involuntarily committed for treatment only upon a finding of clear and convincing evidence that the mental…

[2] Continued commitment under section 916.13(1)(c), Florida Statutes, is improper when uncontradicted medical testimony establishes that a defendant suffers from a progressi…

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Key Quotes

“Every defendant who is charged with a felony and who is adjudicated incompetent to proceed may be involuntarily committed for treatment upon a finding by the court of clear and convincing evidence that ... [t]here is a substantial probability that the mental illness causing the defendant's incompetence will respond to treatment and the defendant will regain competency to proceed in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

Establishes the statutory requirement for commitment of incompetent defendants under section 916.13(1)(c)

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Facts & Procedural History

Teresa Ann Gilliland was charged with two felonies and adjudicated mentally incompetent to proceed to trial. Uncontradicted medical testimony establis…

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Opinion of the Court
SAWAYA, J.

SAWAYA, J.

We grant the Department of Children and Families’ petition for writ of certiorari and quash the trial court’s order of continued commitment of the respondent, Teresa Ann Gilliland, an individual declared mentally incompetent to proceed to trial on two felony charges. The uncontradict-ed medical testimony presented to the trial court reveals that Gilliland suffers from dementia that will become progressively worse and that there is little or no probability that she will become competent in the future. Therefore, Gilliland no longer meets the criteria for commitment to the Department under section 916.13(l)(c), Florida Statutes. § 916.13(l)(c), Fla. Stat. (2006) (“Every defendant who is charged with a felony and who is adjudicated incompetent to proceed may be involuntarily committed for treatment upon a finding by the court of clear and convincing evidence that ... [tjhere is a substantial probability that the mental illness causing the defendant’s incompetence will respond to treatment and the defendant will regain competency to proceed in the reasonably foreseeable future.”); Dep’t of Children & Families v. Wehrwein, 942 So. 2d 947 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006) (granting petition for writ of certiorari and quashing lower court’s order of commitment to Department of Children and Families; holding that although respondent was adjudicated incompetent to proceed to trial, respondent’s commitment to the Department was improper under section 916.13(l)(c) because he suffered from a mental illness that was permanent and there was not a substan tial likelihood that competency would be restored); Andrews v. Johnson, 941 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) (same); Oren v. Judd, 940 So. 2d 1271 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (same).

As the court explained in Oren, the State will have to institute civil commitment proceedings or Gilliland will have to be released. Oren, 940 So. 2d at 1274.

PETITION GRANTED.

PALMER and EVANDER, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Dep't OF Child. & Fam. Servs. v. Amaya, 10 So. 3d 152 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
    …tment proceedings under the Baker Act or for the court to release the defendant “on appropriate conditions” as provided in Rule 3.212(d). See Abreu-Gutierrez v. James, 1 So. 3d 262, 267 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009); Dep't of Children & Families v. Gilliland, 947 So. 2d 1262, 1263 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007); Oren v. Judd, 940 So. 2d 1271, 1274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Mosher v. State, 876 So. 2d 1230, 1232 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.212(d) provides that, when an incompetent defendant does not meet th…
  • Abreu-Gutierrez v. James, 1 So. 3d 262 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
    …annot continue to be detained pursuant to section 916.13. See, e.g., Oren v. Judd, 940 So. 2d 1271, 1273-74 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); [*266] Mosher v. State, 876 So. 2d 1230, 1231-32 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); see also Dep’t of Children & Families v. Gilliland, 947 So. 2d 1262 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007). In contrast to the reports from the court-appointed experts, the report of the administrator of the treatment facility where Abreu was housed found that Abreu did not suffer from mental illness, and, with education, he gained a…
  • …edings under the Baker Act or for the court to release the defendant ‘on appropriate conditions’ as provided in Rule 3.212(d)” (citing Abreu-Gutierrez v. [*434] James, 1 So. 3d 262, 267 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009); Dep’t of Children & Families v. Gilliland, 947 So. 2d 1262, 1263 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007); Oren v. Judd, 940 So. 2d 1271, 1274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Mosher v. State, 876 So. 2d 1230, 1232 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004))). And, given the circuit court’s comments at the hearings leading to the order at issue here, we direct th…

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