STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
JAMES A. THOMAS, APPELLEE
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.
The State appealed an order discharging a criminal case under the speedy trial rule. The court held that when a defendant's counsel agrees to a trial date outside the recapture window during a speedy trial hearing, the recapture period is extended to that agreed-upon date, and thus the discharge was improper.
The court held that when a defendant agreed to a trial date outside the recapture window, the recapture period was extended to that date. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting the discharge order.
[1] A defendant is entitled to be tried within 175 days of being taken into custody for a felony.
[2] Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191(p)(3) requires a trial court to afford the State a ten-day period to bring a defendant to trial after the speedy trial time has e…
Previewing 2 of 5 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“When the defendant agreed to a trial date outside the speedy trial time, speedy trial was thus extended to the agreed upon date.”
The controlling legal principle from State v. Livingston establishing that a defendant's agreement to a trial date extends the speedy trial deadline to that date.
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn June 15, 2007, the defendant's counsel filed a notice of expiration of speedy trial time. At a June 20, 2007 hearing, the trial court proposed July…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Recapture Window cases and more on FLexlaw
TORPY, J.
The State seeks review of an order of discharge under the speedy trial rule.1 Our disposition of this case turns on the effect of defense counsel’s agreement to a trial date outside the recapture window.2 We conclude that by agreeing to a trial date outside the recapture window, the recapture period was extended to that date. Accordingly, we reverse and remand this cause for trial.
On June 15, 2007, Appellee’s counsel filed a notice of expiration of the time for speedy trial. The court held a hearing on the notice on June 20, 2007. The court attempted to set the trial for July 2, 2007, which would have been within the recapture period.3 In response to the proposed trial date, the prosecutor explained that she was unavailable that week because she would be out of town. The defense attorney stated “Let’s not do July 2nd. I think — I think I’m going to have a case with Judge Lambert that’s going to be tried that week_” The court then suggested July 9 and asked defense counsel if that was acceptable. He responded: “Sure, judge.” However, on July 9, 2007, Appellee filed a motion for discharge, which the trial court granted without explanation.
We conclude that our disposition of this case is controlled by our decision in State v. Livingston, 475 So. 2d 1328 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). There, the speedy trial deadline was set to expire on October 1, 1984. During a September 20, 1984, docket call, the court set the trial during the trial week commencing October 1, 1984. When the prosecutor suggested that the case be scheduled for a time certain on Thursday of the trial week (October 4), defense counsel stated that he had no objection to that date. However, on October 3, defense counsel filed a motion to discharge, which the trial court granted. In reversing the discharge, we held that “[w]hen the defendant agreed to a trial date outside the speedy trial time, speedy trial was thus extended to the agreed upon date....” Id. at 1329.
Appellee urges that Livingston is distinguishable because, there, speedy trial had not yet expired when the defense agreed to the trial date. We think this distinction is unpersuasive. Here, although the speedy trial period had already run at the time counsel agreed to the trial date, the recapture period had not yet expired. Thus, as in Livingston, the defense’s agreement to the trial date prejudiced the State because it could have timely tried Appellee had it not relied upon the agreement.
We have not overlooked Walker v. State, 492 So. 2d 772 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), upon which Appellee places heavy reliance. In that case, counsel’s agreement to the trial date did not prejudice the State because the speedy trial period had already run and there was no applicable recapture window. See Adams v. State, 780 So. 2d 955, 957-58 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (explaining that Walker addressed prior version of rule requiring automatic discharge).
REVERSED and REMANDED.
PALMER, C.J. and SAWAYA, J., concur. . Fla. R.Crim. P.3.191.
. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.191(p).
.The tenth day following the hearing was Saturday, June 30, 2007.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
State v. McINTYRE, 10 So. 3d 705 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009)…AWSON, JJ., concur. . At the time this motion was granted the trial court noted that it constituted a waiver of the speedy trial rule and the defense has never contended otherwise. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.191(j)(2) and (k); see also State v. Thomas, 988 So. 2d 1280 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008).…
Authorities Cited
- Taylor v. State, 780 So. 2d 955 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)
- Walker v. State, 492 So. 2d 772 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
- Vickers v. State, 475 So. 2d 1328 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)