SOLOMON ROBERTS, PETITIONER,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Third District Court of Appeal prohibited Solomon Roberts, an incarcerated pro se litigant, from filing further pro se pleadings relating to a specific criminal case after finding he had engaged in a pattern of meritless, frivolous, and successive filings. The court balanced the constitutional right of access to courts against the need to prevent judicial process abuse.
The court prohibited Roberts from filing any further pro se appeals, pleadings, motions, or petitions relating to circuit court case number F78-5774B. Any future filings on this matter must be reviewed and signed by a licensed Florida Bar attorney. Unauthorized pro se filings may subject Roberts to sanctions, including disciplinary action and forfeiture of gain time.
[1] A prior appellate decision affirming the denial of a motion for post-conviction relief is res judicata and bars further consideration of the same claims.
[2] A party's right to proceed pro se is not unfettered and may be forfeited if the party abuses the judicial process by filing successive or meritless collateral claims.
Previewing 2 of 6 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 constitutional right of access to the courts is not unfettered”
Establishes that while incarcerated persons have a right to challenge their incarceration, this right has limits and is not absolute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSolomon Roberts, an incarcerated person, had filed numerous pro se appeals, petitions, and motions in the Third District Court of Appeal relating to c…
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ON ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE
On April 20, 2017, this Court denied Solomon Roberts’s petition for writ of mandamus. On the same date, this Court ordered Roberts to show cause why he should not be prohibited from filing further pro se appeals, petitions, motions or other pleadings in this Court relating to lower tribunal case number F78-5774B.
After carefully considering Roberts’s response to this Court’s show cause order, and the myriad of pro se appeals brought by Roberts, we conclude that good cause has not been shown, and this Court prohibits Roberts from filing any additional pro se pleadings relating to circuit court case number F78-5774B. See State v. Spencer, 751 So.2d 47, 48 (Fla. 1999) (holding that upon a demonstration of abuse, a court can restrict future pro se pleadings if it first provides a pro se litigant reasonable notice and an opportunity to respond).
Roberts has engaged in the filing of meritless, frivolous, and successive claims, continuing to seek relief from this Court notwithstanding prior adverse determinations on the merits. While we recognize that incarcerated persons must be provided with the full panoply of procedural vehicles with which to challenge the lawfulness of their incarceration, see Art. I, § 21, Fla. Const. (“The courts shall be open to every person for redress of any injury .,. .”); Spencer, 751 So.2d at 48; Concepcion v. State, 944 So.2d 1069, 1072 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006), the constitutional right of access to the courts is not unfettered. The right to proceed pro se will be forfeited where a party abuses the judicial process by the continued filing of “successive motions which have been heard, considered, rejected, and then raised again.” Concepcion, 944 So.2d at 1072. “As our sister court aptly described it, there comes a point when ‘enough is enough.’ ” Philpot v. State, 183 So.3d 410, 411 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014) (quoting Isley v. State, 652 So.2d 409, 410 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)).
This Court has the inherent authority and duty to strike a balance between a pro se litigant’s right to participate in the judicial process and protecting the judicial process from abuse.'Id. We note that this Court has entered an order barring Roberts from filing any further pro se pleadings relating to circuit court case numbers 82-8169, 82-9856, and 82-15413. See Roberts v. State, No. 3D13-1438 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 26, 2014). Moreover, the Florida Supreme Court prohibited Roberts from filing any further pro se pleadings pertaining to his convictions, or sentences in case numbers 78-CF-5774, 82-CF-8169, 82-CF-9866 and 82-CF-45413. See Roberts v. Jones, 213 So.3d 912 (Fla. 2017).1
Accordingly, Roberts is prohibited from filing any further pro se appeals, pleadings, motions, or petitions relating to his convictions, judgments, and sentences in lower tribunal case number F78-5774B. See Cruz v. State, 981 So.2d 1272, 1274 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008). We direct the Clerk of the Third District Court of Appeal to refuse to accept any such papers relating to this circuit court.case.number unless they have been reviewed-and signed by an attorney who is a duly licensed member of The Florida Bar in good standing. See Whipple v. State, 112 So.3d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013); Johnson v. State, 915 So.2d 682 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005).
*291Additionally, any such further and unauthorized pro se filings by Roberts may subject him to appropriate sanctions, including the issuance of written findings forwarded to the Department of Corrections for its consideration of disciplinary action, including the forfeiture of gain time. See § 944.279(1), Fla. Stat. (2017); Whipple, 112 So.3d at 541 (citing Minor v. State, 963 So.2d 797 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Brown v. State, 227 So. 3d 215 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017)…unfettered. The right to proceed pro se will be forfeited where a party abuses the judicial process by the continued filing of ‘successive motions which have been heard, considered, rejected, and then raised again.’ ” Roberts v. State, No. 3D17-421, 224 So. 3d 289, 290, 2017 WL 3044671, at *1 (Fla. 3d DCA July 19, 2017) (citations omitted). We caution Brown that any further abuse of the judicial process may subject him to the issuance of an order to show cause why he should not be prohibited from filing furt…
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Watson v. State (Fla. 3d DCA 2024)…scandalous, defamatory, and unsupported allegations, we conclude that no good cause exists. This court therefore prohibits Watson from filing any additional pro se pleadings relating to circuit court case number F17-18789. See Roberts v. State, 224 So. 3d 289, 290 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017) (barring pro se party from further filings in the appellate court related to the underlying criminal matter); see also State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47, 48 (Fla. 1999) (holding that upon a demonstration of abuse, a court ca…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 1999)
- Isley v. State, 652 So. 2d 409 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)
- Moore v. State, 944 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)
- Johnson v. State, 915 So. 2d 682 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005)
- Minor v. State, 963 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)
- Whipple v. State, 112 So. 3d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)
- C.M. and F.M. v. Dep't of Child. & Families, 981 So. 2d 1272 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)
- Philpot v. State, 183 So. 3d 410 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)
- Solomon D. Roberts v. Jones, 213 So. 3d 912 (Fla. 2017)