TAMARA D. ORTIZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2009-06-03
No. 4D07-3127
POLEN, J., concurs., HAZOURI, J., concurs specially.
9 So. 3d 774 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2009) Positive Treatment
Cited by 9 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

Tamara Ortiz appeals her conviction for organized fraud and driving with a revoked license, challenging the trial court's denial of her request to discharge appointed counsel and retain private counsel, and the sentencing as a habitual offender without a presentence investigation. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the late request to change counsel and that defense counsel's waiver of the PSI requirement was sufficient.


Holding

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Ortiz's late request to change counsel, as it was made after jury selection and the court found it was intended to delay proceedings. A personal, on-the-record waiver of the PSI requirement is not necessary; defense counsel's waiver of this non-fundamental statutory right is sufficient under current precedent, as it is a tactical decision not going to the heart of the adjudicatory process.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court does not abuse its discretion in denying a defendant's request to discharge appointed counsel and retain private counsel when the request is made after the…

[2] A defendant's attorney may waive the statutory right to a presentence investigation report on behalf of the defendant.

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

Key Quotes

“It is impractical and unnecessary to require an on-the-record waiver by the defendant to anything but those rights which go to the very heart of the adjudicatory process, such as the right to a lawyer or the right to a jury trial.”

Establishes the legal principle that only fundamental rights require personal on-the-record waiver; tactical decisions and non-fundamental rights can be waived by counsel

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Ortiz was convicted of organized fraud of less than $20,000 and driving while license revoked. She requested to discharge her appointed counsel and re…

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.


Opinion of the Court
WARNER, J.

On Motion for Rehearing

WARNER, J.

We grant appellee’s motion for rehearing, vacate our prior opinion and substitute the following opinion in its place.

Tamara Ortiz appeals her conviction and sentence for organized fraud of less than $20,000 and driving while license revoked. She claims that the court erred in denying her requests to obtain private counsel and sentencing her as a habitual offender without obtaining a presentence investigation. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing her request to discharge her counsel and employ private counsel, where the request was made after the jury had been selected and sworn. We also affirm her sentence, as her attorney waived the preparation of a presentence investigation report.

As to the trial court’s denial of Ortiz’s request to discharge appointed counsel and retain private counsel, the facts of this case are directly on point with Evans v. State, 741 So.2d 1190 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), where we affirmed a conviction after a defendant had made a similar request on the eve of trial to discharge counsel. Here, the trial court found that Ortiz’s request, made after the jury had been selected and sworn, was invoked to delay the proceedings. We find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Ortiz’s request.

The state filed its notice to seek habitual offender sentencing. Section 775.084(3)(a)l., Florida Statutes, sets forth the process required to impose a habitual felony offender sentence, which includes the provision that “[t]he court shall obtain and consider a presentence investigation prior to the imposition of a sentence as a habitual felony offender or a habitual violent felony offender.” The PSI requirement, however, can be waived, as can all of the procedural rights under the statute. See Jefferson v. State, 571 So.2d 70 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). The record in this case reflects that Ortiz’s attorney waived the PSI requirement at the end of trial and again at sentencing.

Ortiz argues that the record must show her personal waiver, and her attorney’s waiver is insufficient. We disagree. Failure to obtain an on-the-record personal waiver of the right to a PSI is not required under current supreme court precedent, and it does not constitute fundamental error.

In State v. Griffith, 561 So.2d 528 (Fla. 1990), the supreme court held that the waiver of a non-fundamental right requires no personal on-the-record waiver. There, a defense attorney waived a defendant’s right to a twelve-person jury in a death *776penalty case. Because the right waived was not a fundamental one (as opposed to the right to a jury trial itself), an on-the-record showing of a defendant’s personal knowing and intelligent waiver of that right was not required. Thus, defense counsel’s on-the-record waiver of the defendant’s right was sufficient.

Griffith considered the waiver of the twelve-person jury a tactical decision on the part of defense counsel for which a court is not required to obtain the personal waiver of a right. It referred to its prior holding in State v. Singletary, 549 So.2d 996, 997 (Fla.1989):

It is impractical and unnecessary to require an on-the-record waiver by the defendant to anything but those rights which go to the very heart of the adjudicatory process, such as the right to a lawyer or the right to a jury trial. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.260.

Griffith, 561 So.2d at 530 (citation omitted).1

The right to a PSI is not a fundamental, constitutional right, nor does it go to the heart of the adjudicatory process. It is a statutory right involving sentencing. In this case, defense counsel waived the PSI not only once but twice. It was discussed by the court, the state attorney, and Ortiz’s public defender in her presence. As in Griffith, she “should not now be heard to complain.” Id. at 530.

Bardwell v. State, 617 So.2d 431 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993), a direct appeal from a conviction and sentence, is distinguishable. There, we cited to Likely v. State, 583 So.2d 414 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), for the proposition that a defendant can “knowingly waive” the right to a PSI, but we found no waiver present and thus reversed for resentencing. However, Bardwell does not involve an attorney waiver of the PSI, as is present in this case.

Furthermore, Likely and Jones v. State, 643 So.2d 1150 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994), involved appeals from orders denying post-conviction relief. In each case the court held that the motion alleging the trial court’s failure to obtain a PSI prior to sentencing could be summarily denied, because each defendant personally waived the right to a PSI during their respective plea colloquies. Neither case held that the failure to obtain a personal waiver constituted a fundamental error remediable on direct appeal. The fact that the defendants personally waived the PSI at their respective plea colloquies simply permitted the court to summarily deny the motion. Since neither case deals with an on-the-record waiver by an attorney in a direct appeal of a sentence, neither case is authority for reversal in this case.

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the conviction and sentence.

POLEN, J., concurs.

HAZOURI, J., concurs specially.

HAZOURI, J.,

concurring specially.

I concur and write to emphasize that although not required, the better practice would be for the trial court to obtain an on the record waiver of the PSI by the defen*777dant. Section 775.084(3)(a)l., Florida Statutes (2007), provides:

(8)(a) In a separate proceeding, the court shall determine if the defendant is a habitual felony offender or a habitual violent felony offender. The procedure shall be as follows:
1. The court shall obtain and consider a presentence investigation prior to the imposition of a sentence as a habitual felony offender or a habitual violent felony offender.

Although not a fundamental right, the PSI is a mandatory statutory right unless waived. Therefore I would strongly urge trial judges have a defendant acknowledge on the record his or her waiver of the PSI. By doing so, there should be no question that this statutory right has been waived.

Concurrence
HAZOURI, J.,

HAZOURI, J.,

concurring specially.

I concur and write to emphasize that although not required, the better practice would be for the trial court to obtain an on the record waiver of the PSI by the defen dant. Section 775.084(3)(a)l., Florida Statutes (2007), provides:

(8)(a) In a separate proceeding, the court shall determine if the defendant is a habitual felony offender or a habitual violent felony offender. The procedure shall be as follows:
1. The court shall obtain and consider a presentence investigation prior to the imposition of a sentence as a habitual felony offender or a habitual violent felony offender. Although not a fundamental right, the PSI is a mandatory statutory right unless waived. Therefore I would strongly urge trial judges have a defendant acknowledge on the record his or her waiver of the PSI. By doing so, there should be no question that this statutory right has been waived.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Guzman v. State, 350 So. 3d 72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
  • Holley v. State, 67 So. 3d 443 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)
    …le in its decision or attach those specific parts of the record that refute each claim presented in the motion.” Anderson v. State, 627 So. 2d 1170, 1171 (Fla.1993) (citing Hoffman v. State, 571 So. 2d 449, 450 (Fla.1990)). See also Walkes v. State, 9 So. 3d 774 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009); Terry v. State, 970 So. 2d 863 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007); Smith v. State, 956 So. 2d 1266 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007). The trial court’s order in this case did neither. We therefore summarily reverse and remand for the attachment of portions…
  • Culver v. State, 163 So. 3d 622 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015)
    …on before the court could [*623] sentence him. The court denied the motion. We affirm. Although appellant contends that his right to a presentence investigation could not be waived by his attorney, we rejected this same argument in Ortiz v. State, 9 So. 3d 774, 776 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009), where we held that the preparation of the presentence investigation in a habitual offender case was a procedural right which did not require a defendant’s personal waiver. The same analysis applies to waiver of the presente…

Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw