PRESTON PAMPHILE, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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Preston Pamphile sought postconviction relief arguing his appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance on multiple grounds. The court found merit in only one argument—that the trial court failed to expressly adjudicate his competency to stand trial despite appointing a competency evaluator—and remanded for the trial court to make a nunc pro tunc competency determination or conduct further proceedings if retroactive determination is impossible.
Three of Petitioner's ineffective assistance arguments were rejected as meritless, but the State conceded error regarding the failure to adjudicate competency. The judgments and sentences must be reversed pending remand for the trial court to conduct a nunc pro tunc competency determination if supported by evidence, or if impossible, to adjudicate present competency and conduct a new trial if Petitioner is found presently competent.
[1] A trial court must expressly adjudicate a defendant's competency when competency is raised and evaluated.
[2] If a trial court fails to adjudicate a defendant's competency after a request for evaluation, the judgments and sentences must be reversed.
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“the expert's report was not filed with the court, the issue was not addressed at the scheduled hearing nor any other hearing, and the trial court did not expressly adjudicate Petitioner's competency”
Establishes the procedural deficiency requiring reversal—the trial court's failure to expressly rule on competency despite initiating competency procedures
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTrial counsel requested a competency evaluation and the trial court appointed an expert to evaluate Petitioner and submit a report, scheduling a heari…
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Petitioner argues his appellate counsel ineffectively handled his direct appeal in four ways. We find three of Petitioner’s arguments meritless, and deny his petition as to those grounds; but we agree with the State’s proper concession of error on the question of establishing Petitioner’s competency.
Petitioner’s trial counsel requested a competency evaluation, and the trial court appointed an expert to evaluate Petitioner and submit a report. The court set a hear*766ing on the issue. However, the expert’s report was not filed with the court, the issue was not addressed at the scheduled hearing nor any other hearing, and the trial court did not expressly adjudicate Petitioner’s competency. We must, therefore, reverse Petitioner’s judgments and sentences, pending further proceedings on remand.
On remand, the court may make a nunc pro tunc competency determination if there is evidence to support a finding that Petitioner was competent at the time of trial. See Dougherty v. State, 149 So.3d 672, 678-79 (Fla. 2014) (approving remand for nunc pro tunc determination of competency if possible); Brooks v. State, 180 So.3d 1094, 1095 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (“[A] new trial is required only if the trial court is unable to conduct a nunc pro tunc evaluation of the defendant’s competency at the time of the original trial.” (citing Reynolds v. State, 177 So.3d 296, 298 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015))). If the trial court can make this determination, no change to Petitioner’s judgments or sentences is required.
If the court cannot make this retroactive determination, it must adjudicate Petitioner’s present competency to stand trial; and if the court determines him presently competent, then conduct a new trial. Brooks, 180 So.3d at 1096; Cotton v. State, 177 So.3d 666, 668-69 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015). The remedy is “dependent on the circumstances of each case.” Id. at 669 (quoting Dougherty, 149 So.3d at 678-79).
Accordingly, we GRANT the petition as to the issue of Petitioner’s competency only; and REMAND the case to the trial court for further proceedings. Otherwise the petition is DENIED.
ROWE and JAY, JJ., CONCUR.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Pamphile v. State, 260 So. 3d 1185 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)
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Johnson v. State, 264 So. 3d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019)
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Brown v. State, 250 So. 3d 764 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)
Authorities Cited
- Dougherty v. State, 149 So. 3d 672 (Fla. 2014)
- Brooks v. State, 180 So. 3d 1094 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
- Reynolds v. State, 177 So. 3d 296 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
- Cotton v. State, 177 So. 3d 666 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)