DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, PETITIONER,
v.
SHANNON EDWARD EWELL, ET AL., RESPONDENT
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The Department of Children and Family Services' petition for certiorari is granted, quashing the trial court's order committing Ewell to the Florida State Hospital for competency restoration because no evidence supported the statutory requirement of clear and convincing evidence that his mental illness would respond to treatment.
A defendant cannot be committed for competency restoration under section 916.13(1)(c) without clear and convincing evidence that the mental illness causing incompetence will respond to treatment and the defendant will regain competency in the reasonably foreseeable future.
[1] A trial court commits reversible error by ordering commitment for competency restoration under section 916.13(1)(c) without clear and convincing evidence that the defenda…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“There 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.”
Statutory requirement for commitment under section 916.13(1)(c), Florida Statutes (2006)
Shannon Edward Ewell was charged with burglary and petit theft and found incompetent to proceed. The trial court ordered his commitment to the Florida…
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PER CURIAM.
Petitioner, the Department of Children and Family Services, (“Department”), seeks a writ of certiorari quashing the trial court’s order committing Respondent, Shannon Edward Ewell, to the Florida State Hospital for treatment to restore him to competency.1 The only medical expert who evaluated Ewell opined that Ewell ydll not be able to reach competency through any known therapeutic program.
Section 916.13(l)(c), Florida Statutes (2006), requires that before a defendant is committed to the Department for competency restoration, there must be “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.” Because there was no evidence presented below to support Ewell’s commitment pursuant to section 916.13(l)(c), we find the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law by ordering Ewell’s commitment for competency restoration. Eg., M.H. v. State, 901 So. 2d 197, 200 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (recognizing that “[wjhere competent, substantial evidence does not support the trial court’s finding regarding competency or involuntary commitment, the trial court has departed from the essential requirements of the law”).
Therefore, we grant the petition, quash the order below, and remand this matter to the circuit court for further proceedings.
CERTIORARI GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED; REMANDED.
SAWAYA, ORFINGER and LAWSON, concur. . Ewell is charged with one count of burglary and one count of petit theft.
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Dep't OF Child. & Families v. Lotton, 172 So. 3d 983 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015)…. Without reports or testimony from experts who examined and evaluated the defendant, no trial court can be in a position to make the appropriate findings, supported by clear and convincing evidence. In Department of Children and Families v. Ewell, 949 So. 2d 327, 328 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007), this Court granted certiorari and quashed the commitment order because the only expert who examined the defendant opined that the defendant could not reach competency through treatment, which is a statutory requirement for…
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Dep't OF Child. & Families v. Adalberto Garcia, 245 So. 3d 919 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…'s a substantial probability he will respond to treatment and will regain competency to proceed in the reasonably foreseeable future. The department cited to a case from the Fifth District Court of Appeal, Department of Children & Families v. Ewell, 949 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007), where the appellate court granted the department's certiorari petition after the trial court ordered the defendant involuntarily committed without evidence the defendant could be restored to competency. The trial court denied th…
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C.O. v. State, 203 So. 3d 200 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016)…hen competent, substantial evidence does not support the trial court’s finding regarding competency or involuntary commitment, the trial court has departed from the essential requirements of the law. Id. Accord Dep’t of Children & Families v. Ewell, 949 So. 2d 327, 328 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007). C.O. argues, and the State concedes, that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law when it placed him in a residential mental health treatment facility after finding him incompetent. C.O. does not d…
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- M.H. v. State, 901 So. 2d 197 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)