STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
RONALD THOMPSON, RESPONDENT
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The State of Florida petitioned for a writ of prohibition to disqualify a circuit court judge who directed the State Attorney to personally appear at a resentencing hearing. The appellate court granted the prohibition petition, finding that the judge's actions and comments would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving fair and impartial treatment.
The court granted the petition for writ of prohibition and directed the disqualification of Judge Skinner. The court found that the facts alleged in the disqualification motion, taken as true, would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial, warranting disqualification and appointment of a successor judge.
[1] A motion for judicial disqualification, when its alleged facts are taken as true, must be granted if they would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving…
[2] A motion for judicial disqualification is timely if filed after the last in a series of actions by the judge that gave rise to the fear of bias.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The facts alleged in the state's motion for judicial disqualification, taken as true as they must be under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.330(f), would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial.”
Establishes the legal standard for disqualification: whether the judge's conduct would cause a reasonably prudent person to fear bias or partiality.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceFollowing a prior appellate decision reversing Thompson's sentence and remanding for resentencing with a mandatory 20-year minimum, the trial judge di…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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In State v. Thompson, 64 So.3d 1281 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011), this court reversed respondent’s sentence and remanded to the Circuit Court for Clay County for re-sentencing with a statutorily-required 20 year mandatory minimum. On remand, Judge John Skinner directed the elected State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit to personally appear at the resen-tencing hearing. The state moved to disqualify Judge Skinner, asserting that his actions and comments in the case caused movant to fear that the judge was not fair and impartial in the cause. When the motion was denied, relief was sought from this court through a petition for extraordinary writ. The state requests that prohibition be granted and the disqualification of Judge Skinner be ordered. It also petitions for a writ of certiorari or quo war-ranto to review the order which directed the State Attorney’s attendance at resen-tencing.
The facts alleged in the state’s motion for judicial disqualification, taken as true as they must be under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.330(f), would place a reasonably prudent person in fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial. Livingston v. State, 441 So.2d 1083, 1087 (Fla.1983). The motion was timely filed after the last in a series of actions by the *934judge that gave rise to such fear. See Dura-Stress v. Law, 634 So.2d 769 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994). We therefore grant the petition for writ of prohibition and direct Judge Skinner to enter an order of disqualification and requesting the Chief Circuit Judge to appoint a successor judge to preside over the resentencing hearing.
In accordance with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.330(h), the State of Florida may request the successor judge to reconsider the order requiring the attendance of the State Attorney at resen-tencing. We therefore do not reach the correctness of that order. Our denial of certiorari and quo warranto relief at this time is without prejudice to the state’s right to again petition this court for relief if reconsideration is denied.
PETITION FOR WRIT OF PROHIBITION GRANTED; PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI OR QUO WAR-RANTO DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
LEWIS, ROWE, and RAY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Livingston v. State, 441 So. 2d 1083 (Fla. 1983)
- Dura-Stress, Inc. v. Honorable William G. LAW, Jr., 634 So. 2d 769 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994)
- State v. Thompson, 64 So. 3d 1281 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)
- Sedrick Youngblood v. State, 64 So. 3d 1281 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)