ROBERT ASPER
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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The appellate court reversed the circuit court's order prohibiting a defendant from filing further pro se motions under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850(n). The court held that while the defendant's four post-conviction filings lacked merit or were procedurally deficient, they did not constitute egregious abuse of the judicial process sufficient to warrant such an extreme remedy.
A prohibition on pro se filing is an extreme remedy reserved for egregious abuse of judicial process. The defendant's four filings, while lacking merit or being procedurally deficient, do not constitute egregious abuse because they are far fewer in number than filings in cases where such prohibitions have been justified. The circuit court's order is therefore reversed.
[1] A prohibition on pro se filing is an extreme remedy that should be reserved for egregious abuse of judicial process; the mere filing of multiple post-conviction motions l…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe defendant filed four pro se post-conviction motions: (1) a timely rule 3.850 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, which was denied o…
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PER CURIAM.
We reverse the circuit court’s order prohibiting the defendant from further pro se filing pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850(n).
A prohibition on pro se filing is an extreme remedy that should be reserved for egregious abuse of judicial process. See Roland v. State, 267 So. 3d 449, 450 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019). Here, the defendant has sought post-conviction relief in four pro se filings: (1) a timely rule 3.850 motion (later amended to correct insufficient claims) alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, which motion the circuit court denied on the merits and we affirmed on appeal; (2) a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c) motion to reduce or modify sentence, which motion the circuit court denied as untimely; (3) a habeas corpus petition which the circuit court denied as untimely; and (4) a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion alleging two errors in the sentencing process, which motion the circuit court denied as not cognizable under rule 3.800(a).
While the state does not concede the circuit court erred in prohibiting the defendant from further pro se filing pursuant to rule 3.850(n), the state properly acknowledges the defendant’s filings are “nowhere close to the number of filings in other cases where litigants were abusing the judicial process by the sheer volume of their post-conviction filings.”
In our view, the defendant has not egregiously abused the judicial process. While the defendant’s filings may have lacked merit or were untimely or unauthorized, these filings were not so numerous or lacking in merit to justify prohibiting the defendant’s further pro se filing pursuant to rule 3.850(n) at this juncture. Thus, we reverse the circuit court’s order prohibiting the defendant from further pro se filing pursuant to rule 3.850(n). However, we caution the defendant that further meritless filings may justify prohibiting the defendant’s further pro se filing pursuant to rule 3.850(n).
Reversed. WARNER, MAY and GERBER, JJ., concur. * * * Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.