JAMES MURRAY BEAUFORD
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 4th DCA | 2023-12-20
No. 2023-1320
352 So. 3d 545 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2023) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 291 So. 3d 637 · 375 So. 3d 923
Cited by 5 cases

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Holding

Investigative costs may not be imposed unless they are requested by the State or a law enforcement agency.

Headnotes

[1] Under Florida Statute § 938.27, investigative costs may not be imposed by a trial court unless they are requested by the State or a law enforcement agency that conducted…

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Key Quotes

“the trial court's imposition of the $50 cost of investigation is unlawful under section 938.27, Fla. Stat. (2019) because no agency requested them”

Court's citation to Phillips v. State explaining the legal error in imposing costs without agency request
Facts & Procedural History

Beauford was convicted in St. Lucie County and sentenced to include investigative costs. The trial court imposed investigative costs without any reque…

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Opinion of the Court

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St. Lucie County; Michael C. Heisey, Judge; L.T. Case Nos. 2021CF001671A and 2022CF000955A.

James Murray Beauford, Wewahitchka, pro se. No appearance for appellee. PER CURIAM.

We affirm Appellant’s convictions and sentences without further comment. We reverse, however, the imposition of investigative costs as those costs were never requested by the State or by any investigating law enforcement agency. See Phillips v. State, 352 So. 3d 545, 545 (Fla. 1st DCA 2022) (“We affirm this appeal in all respects, except that the trial court’s imposition of the $50 cost of investigation is unlawful under section 938.27, Fla. Stat. (2019) because no agency requested them.”). On remand, the trial court shall “enter an amended judgment and sentence that strikes or deletes the investigative costs, without the State being entitled to have these costs reimposed.” Smith v. State, 291 So. 3d 637, 637 (Fla. 5th DCA 2020).

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with instructions. DAMOORGIAN, GERBER and KUNTZ, JJ., concur.

* * * Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Beauford v. State, 352 So. 3d 545 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023)
    …ffirm Appellant’s convictions and sentences without further comment. We reverse, however, the imposition of investigative costs as those costs were never requested by the State or by any investigating law enforcement agency. See Phillips v. State, 352 So. 3d 545, 545 (Fla. 1st DCA 2022) (“We affirm this appeal in all respects, except that the trial court’s imposition of the $50 cost of investigation is unlawful under section 938.27, Fla. Stat. (2019) because no agency requested them.”). On remand, the tria…
    1 / 2
  • Cadejuste v. State (Fla. 4th DCA 2024)
    …State, 288 So. 3d 574, 577 (Fla. 2020). “On remand, the trial court shall ‘enter an amended judgment and sentence that strikes or deletes the investigative costs, without the State being entitled to have these costs reimposed.’” Beauford v. State, 375 So. 3d 923, 924 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023) (citation omitted). As such, we remand for the trial court to strike the investigative costs. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with instructions. WARNER and ARTAU, JJ., concur.…
  • Pannier v. State (Fla. 4th DCA 2024)
    …re was no agency request or evidence of the amount. Jackson v. State, 137 So. 3d 470, 472 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014). Further, the investigative costs may not be reimposed on remand. Richards v. State, 288 So. 3d 574, 577 (Fla. 2020); Beauford v. State, 375 So. 3d 923, 924 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023). The state also agrees the costs of prosecution must be reversed because the state did not request or submit proof of prosecution costs exceeding $100. Cabrera v. State, 375 So. 3d 924, 925 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023). Thus, we r…

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