NATHANIEL TALBOT, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Talbot appeals his robbery conviction and sentence, but a jurisdictional issue arose because the defendant was tried in Polk County but sentenced in Broward County. The Fourth District Court of Appeal held that jurisdiction for sentencing should have remained in Polk County, where the trial occurred, and transferred the appeal to the Second District Court of Appeal.
Once a cause is transferred to and actually tried in a particular court, jurisdiction for adjudication and sentencing remains in that court. The transfer back to Broward County was treated as an administrative order only, and the adjudication and sentence are deemed those of the Polk County Court of Record. The appeal must be transferred to the Second District Court of Appeal, as Polk County is outside the Fourth District's jurisdiction.
[1] Jurisdiction for adjudication and sentencing remains in the court where a criminal cause was tried, even if an order purports to transfer the cause back to another court…
[2] An order transferring a cause back to a different court for adjudication and sentencing after a trial has concluded may be treated as an administrative order for the conv…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“This procedure produces the anomaly of an adjudication of guilt and sentencing by a different court than that in which the defendant was convicted.”
The court identified the core problem with allowing sentencing in a different county than where the trial occurred.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTalbot and Stanley Cole were charged with robbery in Broward County. Talbot obtained a change of venue to Polk County, where he was convicted by jury …
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PER CURIAM.
Although none of the parties mentioned it in their briefs, a jurisdictional question appears in this case. We noted it at oral argument and the parties have furnished supplemental briefs dealing therewith.
An information was filed in the Court of Record for Broward County, Florida, charging the defendant Talbot and one Stanley Cole with robbery. A motion for a change of venue was made by the defendant and an order was entered thereon which transferred the cause to the Criminal Court of Record in Polk County, Florida, for trial. The defendant was there convicted by jury verdict. After the verdict was rendered, the trial court on stipulation of the parties signed an order which transferred the cause back to the Court of Record for Broward County, Florida. Thereafter, on 1 September 1972 the trial judge sitting in Broward County, Florida entered judgment and sentence which has been filed in that court. The present appeal has been taken from that judgment and sentence.
This procedure produces the anomaly of an adjudication of guilt and sentencing by a different court than that in which the defendant was convicted. It produces the added peculiarity that in the event the appeal from the judgment of the Court of Record of Broward County reveals the need for a new trial, this court would be in the position of having to return the case to the Court of Record for Polk County— a court not within our district.
We conclude that once the cause was transferred to and actually tried in the Criminal Court of Record for Polk County, jurisdiction remained in that court for the purpose of adjudication and sentencing. Compare Resnick v. State, Fla.App.1973, 274 So. 2d 589. For the purpose of convenience we hold that the order transferring the cause back to the Court of Record for Broward County shall be given effect only as an administrative order for the convenience of the trial judge and the adjudication and sentence shall be treated as an adjudication and sentence of the Court of Record of Polk County, Florida. It is therefore,
Ordered that this appeal be transferred, pursuant to Rule 2.1 a(5)(d), F.A.R. 32 F.S.A., to the Second District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida, and that the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Broward County, Florida transfer to the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Polk County, Florida, for filing therein any of the original record or proceedings, which the former may now have in his possession.