GREGORY DONALD HAUSER, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. 2d DCA | 2015-08-12
No. 2D15-1359
Silberman, J., Wallace, J., Crenshaw, J.
171 So. 3d 824 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2015)

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Synopsis

The court granted certiorari and quashed the circuit court's affirmance because the court violated procedural due process by denying the petitioner an opportunity to file a pro se brief after his counsel filed an Anders brief.


Holding

A circuit court must provide an indigent defendant a reasonable opportunity to file a pro se brief after counsel files an Anders brief, and failure to do so violates procedural due process.


Headnotes

[1] An indigent defendant must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to file a pro se brief after counsel files an Anders no-merit brief, and denial of this opportunity violat…

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Key Quotes

“Upon counsel's submission of ... an Anders brief, the indigent must be given the opportunity to file a pro se brief.”

Florida Supreme Court's statement of the requirement that indigent defendants receive opportunity to file pro se briefs after Anders briefs are filed.

Facts & Procedural History

Gregory Donald Hauser appealed his misdemeanor battery conviction. His court-appointed counsel filed a no-merit Anders brief, but the circuit court is…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner Gregory Donald Hauser seeks certiorari review of the circuit court’s appellate per curiam affirmance of his appeal of his judgment and sentence for misdemeanor battery. The circuit court deprived Mr. Hauser of his right to file a pro se brief by issuing its decision only seven days after Mr. Hauser’s court-appointed counsel filed a no-merit brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967), which provides that “[a] copy of counsel’s brief should be furnished the indigent and time allowed him to raise any points that he chooses.” See also In re Anders Briefs, 581 So.2d 149, 151 (Fla. 1991) (“Upon counsel’s submission of ... an Anders brief, the indigent must be given the opportunity to file a pro se brief.”). The State has appropriately conceded that the circuit court failed to provide Mr. Hau-ser with procedural due process and thereby violated “a clearly established principle of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice.” Allstate Ins. Co. v. Kaklamanos, 843 So.2d 885, 889 (Fla.2003) (citing Ivey v. Allstate Ins. Co., 774 So.2d 679, 682 (Fla.2000); then citing Haines City Cmty. Dev. v. Heggs, 658 So.2d 523, 528 (Fla.1995)).

Accordingly, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari, quash the circuit court’s order, and remand for the circuit court to give Mr. Hauser an opportunity to file a pro se brief within no fewer than twenty days of the date that the mandate issues in this proceeding.

Petition granted; opinion quashed; remanded.

SILBERMAN, WALLACE, and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.


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