JAMES ANTHONY JONES
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2022-12-30
No. 22-0757
347 So. 3d 1273 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2022) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Holding

Once a defendant's competency is questioned, the trial court must make an independent, legal determination of competency before proceeding to trial, regardless of whether the defendant withdraws his incompetency notice.

Headnotes

[1] A trial court must make an independent, legal determination of a defendant's competency to proceed once the defendant's competency is called into question, even if the de…

[2] A trial court commits fundamental error by failing to render a written order finding a defendant competent before proceeding to trial when a reason for a competency heari…

Previewing 2 of 3 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
Key Quotes

“Because an independent competency finding is a due-process right that cannot be waived once a reason for a competency hearing has surfaced, the trial court fundamentally erred in failing to make such a finding.”

Citation to Zern v. State establishing that competency findings cannot be waived
Facts & Procedural History

Jones was convicted by jury of lewd or lascivious molestation of a person twelve to sixteen years of age. The trial court failed to render a written o…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Topics
Competency Determination Nunc Pro Tunc Competency Determination Nunc Pro Tunc Order Competency To Stand Trial

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Competency Determination cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

JAMES ANTHONY JONES,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D22-757 LT Case No. 2019-CF-014520-A-O

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee. ________________________________/ Opinion filed December 30, 2022 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County, Elaine A. Barbour, Judge. Matthew J. Metz, Public Defender, and Joshua Mosley, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Deborah A. Chance, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. WOZNIAK, J.

James Jones appeals the judgment and sentence rendered following a jury verdict finding him guilty of lewd or lascivious molestation of a person twelve years of age or older but less than sixteen years of age. He argues, and the State implicitly concedes, that the trial court erred by failing to render a written order finding him competent before proceeding to trial.1 See Zern v. State, 191 So. 3d 962, 965 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016) (“Because an independent competency finding is a due-process right that cannot be waived once a reason for a competency hearing has surfaced, the trial court fundamentally erred in failing to make such a finding.”); see also Goodewardena v. State, 347 So. 3d 1273, 1277 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022) (quoting Zern, 191 So. 3d at 965).

Once a defendant’s competency is called into question, a trial court must make “an independent, legal determination” that a defendant is competent to proceed, even if the defendant withdraws his notice of incompetence after being evaluated, as Jones did. Goodewardena, 347 So. 3d at 1276; Dougherty v. State, 149 So. 3d 672, 677 (Fla. 2014) (holding trial court "retains the responsibility of the [competency] decision" and "[a]ccepting a stipulation improperly absolves the trial court from making an

Footnotes
1 We affirm without further comment the remaining issues raised by Jones. independent determination regarding a defendant's competency to stand trial” (quoting McCray v. State, 71 So. 3d 848, 862 (Fla. 2011))). Therefore, we remand for a hearing to determine Jones’s competency at the time of trial or for a new trial if a nunc pro tunc competency determination is not possible. Dougherty, 149 So. 3d at 678–79 (“A new trial is not always necessary where the issue of competency was inadequately determined prior to trial; a retroactive determination of competency is possible.”); Goonewardena, 347 So. 3d at 1277 (“[W]e reverse and remand for a nunc pro tunc determination of competence. To the extent such a determination cannot be made, we remand for a new trial.”). AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; and REMANDED with directions. SASSO and TRAVER, JJ., concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Alagabara Awolowo v. State, 389 So. 3d 788 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024)
  • Jones v. State, 347 So. 3d 1273 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022)
    …Because an independent competency finding is a due-process right that cannot be waived once a reason for a competency hearing has surfaced, the trial court fundamentally erred in failing to make such a finding.”); see also Goodewardena v. State, 347 So. 3d 1273, 1277 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022) (quoting Zern, 191 So. 3d at 965). Once a defendant’s competency is called into question, a trial court must make “an independent, legal determination” that a defendant is competent to proceed, even if the defendant wit…
  • Carnley v. State, 403 So. 3d 1094 (Fla. 5th DCA 2025)

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw