MICHAEL A. WILSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed the trial court's order striking a defendant's first postconviction relief motion under Rule 3.850, holding that Spencer's prohibition on frivolous filings cannot bar a prisoner from filing at least one initial postconviction motion.
A trial court may not use State v. Spencer to prohibit a prisoner from filing his first motion for postconviction relief, even if the prisoner previously filed repetitious pleadings during direct appeal.
[1] A trial court may not invoke State v. …
Previewing 1 of 1 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“Spencer and its progeny seek to prevent a prisoner from flooding the courts with repetitious, successive, and frivolous pleadings. Here, appellant is being prohibited from filing his first, non-successive motion for postconviction relief.”
Court explaining the proper scope of Spencer's prohibition
Wilson filed repetitious pleadings while his case was on direct appeal from conviction and sentence. The trial court then struck his first postconvict…
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We reverse the trial court’s order striking the appellant’s first postconviction relief motion, filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The trial court struck the motion for postconviction relief based upon the court’s prior orders prohibiting the appellant from filing future pro se pleadings. The order was entered pursuant to State v. Spencer, 751 So.2d 47 (Fla.1999). Spencer permits a court to prohibit a litigant who has filed repetitious and frivolous pleadings and papers from filing further attacks on his or her conviction and sentence, after notice and opportunity to be heard. In this case, the appellant had filed repetitious pleadings and papers while his case was on direct appeal from his conviction and sentence. He has not had the opportunity to file any motion for postconviction relief.
While we can sympathize with the frustration of the circuit court, we do not believe that Spencer was ever intended to be used to prohibit a prisoner from filing at least a first motion for postconviction relief. See Bivins v. State, 35 So.3d 67 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010). Spencer and its progeny seek to prevent a prisoner from flooding the courts with repetitious, successive, and frivolous pleadings. Here, appellant is being prohibited from filing his first, non-successive motion for postconviction relief. We conclude that he is entitled to file that motion.
Although we permit the filing of this first postconviction motion, we caution the appellant that, should he abuse the process by continually filing additional pleadings, he may face the same prohibition again.
GROSS, C.J., WARNER and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Casey v. State, 158 So. 3d 667 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)…-CF-19724, 10-CF-19726, and 10-CF-19945, and notices of appeal related to circuit court case number 10-CF-19724, unless the filing is signed by a member in good standing of The Florida Bar. See Spencer, 751 So. 2d at 48-49; see also Wilson v. State, 57 So. 3d 1000, 1000 [*669] (Fla. 4th DCA 2011). We caution Mr. Casey that the filing of any frivolous pro se appeals in circuit court case numbers 10-CF-17674, 10-CF-19726, and 10-CF-19945 may result in additional sanctions, such as a ban on future pro se notices…
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Jimenez-Jimenez v. State, 142 So. 3d 901 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)…t to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, and imposes sanctions based on State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla.1999). We affirm the trial court’s denial of the rule 3.850 motion, but we reverse the sanction order. However, as in Wilson v. State, 57 So. 3d 1000 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011), we caution appellant that he may face the same prohibition again should he abuse the process by filing repetitious and frivolous pleadings and papers. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. MAY, LEVINE and CONN…
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Smith v. State, 197 So. 3d 580 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)…e trial court issued a Spencer order to show cause and then issued the sanction order. We affirm the order that denied the amended motion, but reverse the sanction order. Jimenez-Jimenez v. State, 142 So. 3d 901 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014); Wilson v. State, 57 So. 3d 1000 (Fla. 4th- DCA 2011). While' we- reverse, we caution Smith that, should he abuse the process by continually filing additional pleadings, he may face the same prohibition again. Affirmed in part, reversed in part. WARNER, DAMOORGIAN and LEVINE…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 1999)
- Bivins v. State, 35 So. 3d 67 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)