D. S.
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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A trial court must provide a defendant notice of the right to a hearing before imposing a public defender fee.
[1] A trial court must provide a defendant with notice of the right to a hearing before imposing a public defender fee.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“When imposing a public defender fee, a trial court must first give a defendant notice of his right to a hearing.”
Court's statement of the legal standard governing public defender fee imposition
D.S. was subject to a disposition order that imposed a $50 fee for legal assistance lien for attorney's fees or costs. The trial court did not notify …
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NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
D.S., ) ) Appellant, ) ) v. ) Case No. 2D19-800 ) STATE OF FLORIDA, ) ) Appellee. ) ) Opinion filed January 13, 2021. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Michael J. Scionti, Judge. Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Carly J. Robbins-Gilbert, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Johnny T. Salgado, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee. SLEET, Judge. D.S. challenges the trial court's disposition order that, in pertinent part, imposes a $50 fee for "the Legal Assistance Lien for payment of attorney's fees or costs." Because the trial court failed to provide D.S. notice of his right to contest the
$50 fee, we reverse the imposition of the fee. We affirm D.S.'s disposition order in all other respects. During the pendency of this appeal, D.S. filed a motion to correct sentencing error pursuant to Florida Rule of Juvenile Procedure 8.135(b)(2), arguing that the trial court imposed the $50 fee without advising D.S. of the right to a hearing to contest the fee or without inquiring whether D.S. agreed to the fee. Since the trial court did not rule on the motion within thirty days, it is deemed denied. See Fla. R. Juv. P. 8.135(b)(2)(B). When imposing a public defender fee, a trial court must first give a defendant notice of his right to a hearing. J.S. v. State, 277 So. 3d 270, 276 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019); Newton v. State, 262 So. 3d 849, 850 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018). Here, the trial court failed to notify D.S. of his right to a hearing to contest the $50 public defender fee imposed at sentencing. We therefore reverse and remand with instructions to strike the $50 fee and consider whether to reimpose it after D.S. is given notice and an opportunity to be heard. As this court did in Newton, 262 So. 3d at 850, we certify conflict with the First District's decision in Mills v. State, 177 So. 3d 984 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015). We also certify conflict with Alexis v. State, 211 So. 3d 81 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017). Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded; conflict certified. LaROSE and ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JJ., Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Mills v. State, 177 So. 3d 984 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
- Geraldo Alexis v. State, 211 So. 3d 81 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017)
- Newton v. State, 262 So. 3d 849 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018)
- H. R. v. State, 277 So. 3d 270 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)