ROBERT WILLIAMS, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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Robert Williams petitioned for habeas corpus challenging his pretrial detention following a failure to appear for calendar call in a failure-to-redeliver case. The Fourth District Court of Appeal granted the petition because the trial court failed to make required findings that detention was necessary to ensure Williams's appearance and that no conditions of release could protect community safety.
Pretrial detention cannot be ordered without findings that nonappearance was willful and that no reasonable conditions of release would assure the defendant's presence at trial, even if the defendant's military service complicated appearance.
[1] Pretrial detention requires a finding that no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm or assure the accused's presence at tr…
[2] A trial court must make specific findings to support pretrial detention, even if a defendant's nonappearance is found to be willful.
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“No findings were made that his failure to appear was willful; the judge stated only that, although Williams might be in the military, his nonappearance was 'not acceptable to me.'”
Establishes that the trial court failed to make the required statutory finding of willfulness and instead made only a subjective statement of disapproval.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWilliams, a Florida National Guard member, failed to appear for a calendar call in October 2010 related to a failure-to-redeliver charges. He was call…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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Robert Williams petitions this court for a writ of habeas corpus, challenging the trial court’s order of pretrial detention after he failed to appear for calendar call in connection with his charge for failure to redeliver a hired vehicle.1 We grant the petition.
Williams offered an explanation for his failure to appear for calendar call in October 2010: as a member of the Florida National Guard, he was called up early in September by his special forces unit and was given only twenty-four hours notice to go into Africa, to a location where he had no opportunity to call his lawyer until approximately a month before the April 2011 bond hearing. No findings were made that his failure to appear was willful; the judge stated only that, although Williams *388might be in the military, his nonappearance was “not acceptable to me.” Further, it is clear from the record that the trial court made no findings that “that no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm to persons or assure the presence of the accused at trial,” a requirement of pretrial detention under section 907.041(4)(c)7., Florida Statutes (2010). Blair v. State, 15 So.3d 758, 759 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009), approved, 39 So.3d 1190 (Fla.2010). Even if the trial court meant to indicate that it found the nonappearance to be willful, the further findings still were necessary. Bannister v. Lamberti, 32 So.3d 745 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (holding that, even where willfulness of nonappearance is conceded, trial court ordering pretrial detention still must make finding that pretrial detention is necessary to assure defendant’s appearance at trial) (citing Blair).
We therefore grant the petition for writ of habeas corpus to the extent of remanding to the trial court to set an expedited hearing to determine whether Williams’s nonappearance for calendar call was willful and whether there are any reasonable conditions of release which would assure Williams’s presence at trial.
Petition granted; case remanded for an expedited hearing.
GROSS, C.J., STEVENSON and MAY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Williams v. State, 68 So. 3d 1010 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)…argues that his failure to appear was not willful and that the trial court failed to make a finding that no reasonable conditions could secure petitioner’s presence at trial. We grant the petition. After this court’s decision in Williams v. State, 59 So. 3d 387 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011), where this court quashed a prior pretrial detention order, the trial court released petitioner on pretrial supervision. Thereafter, petitioner’s private counsel moved to withdraw. The court granted the motion at a hearing and a…
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Williams v. State, 71 So. 3d 232 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)…orpus from the trial judge’s orders requiring petitioner’s pretrial detention in this case where he is charged with third-degree felony failure to return a rental vehicle. See Williams v. State, 68 So. 3d 1010 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011); Williams v. State, 59 So. 3d 387, 388 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011). At a hearing on an emergency motion to set bond, the judge relied on the unsworn, non-record statements of an attorney that had withdrawn from the case in concluding that petitioner was a flight risk. The privately-retaine…
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Niel Paul v. Ryan, 126 So. 3d 349 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)…ate of Florida, respondent. Niel Paul seeks a writ of habeas corpus to remedy his detention without bond. At the hearing on the bond motion, the trial court failed to determine whether Paul’s failure to appear was willful.1 See Williams v. State, 59 So. 3d 387 (Fla.2011). As such, we grant Niel Paul’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, quash the order below and remand to the trial court only to the extent that we direct the trial court to set an expedited bond hearing for the purpose of determining wheth…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Blair, 39 So. 3d 1190 (Fla. 2010)
- Blair v. State of Fla. & Ric L. Bradshaw, 15 So. 3d 758 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)
- Tanesha Bannister v. Al Lamberti, 32 So. 3d 745 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)