BRYAN ALEXANDER HICKS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Once a trial court finds reasonable grounds to believe a defendant is incompetent, it must hold a competency hearing and adjudicate the defendant's competency before accepting a plea, and failure to do so constitutes fundamental error.
[1] Once a trial court finds reasonable grounds to believe a defendant is incompetent and orders a competency evaluation, the court must hold a competency hearing and adjudic…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBryan Alexander Hicks entered a no contest plea in a criminal case. The trial court found reasonable grounds to believe Hicks was incompetent and orde…
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FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D18-4130 _____________________________
BRYAN ALEXANDER HICKS,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee. _____________________________
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Gary L. Bergosh, Judge. January 22, 2020
PER CURIAM.
The trial court committed fundamental error in not holding a hearing and adjudicating Appellant’s competency after finding reasonable grounds to believe that Appellant was incompetent and ordering a competency evaluation. See Sheheane v. State, 228 So. 3d 1178, 1180 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017).* Accordingly, we reverse and
*We acknowledge that Appellant entered a no contest plea in this case. Consistent with our decision in Sheheane, the Fourth District has held that, once the trial court has found reasonable grounds to believe that a defendant is incompetent, the failure to hold a competency hearing and adjudicate a defendant’s competency prior to accepting a plea constitutes fundamental error that can be raised on direct appeal without the filing of a motion to withdraw plea. Dortch v. State, 242 So. 3d 431, 433 (Fla. 4th
2
remand for a retroactive determination of competency, if possible. Id. If the trial court finds that Appellant was competent at the time he entered his plea, it must enter a nunc pro tunc written order memorializing that finding with no change in the judgment. See Bowden v. State, 279 So. 3d 311, 313-14 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019). However, if the trial court cannot make a retroactive determination, it must allow Appellant to withdraw his plea and adjudicate his present competency to proceed. Id. at 314.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
LEWIS, WINOKUR, and JAY, JJ., concur.
_____________________________
Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________
Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Justin F. Karpf, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Damaris Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
DCA 2018) (en banc), rev. granted, SC18-681, 2018 WL 3635017 (Fla. July 11, 2018). Pending the Florida Supreme Court’s ultimate resolution of Dortch, we continue to adhere to this court’s precedent.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Hicks v. State, 915 So. 2d 740 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)
- Dortch v. State, 242 So. 3d 431 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)
- Jontez L. Anderson v. State, 279 So. 3d 311 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020)