BRENT CRUM, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1973-12-14
No. 72-317
WALDEN and CROSS, JJ., concur.
286 So. 2d 268 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1973) Caution
Cited by 36 cases

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Synopsis

A Florida appellate court reversed a probation revocation order, holding that a mere arrest at 1:30 AM without additional factual allegations is insufficient to support a violation of the condition to "live honorably." The court emphasized that probation revocation must be based on the specific violations alleged and proved, not on bare assertions of arrests.


Holding

A bare assertion of arrest at a particular time is not sufficient as a matter of law to support revocation of probation for violating the "live honorably" condition. Probation revocation must be based only on violations alleged, and only after a proper hearing with evidence supporting the specific allegations made.


Headnotes

[1] A bare assertion of a probationer's arrest at a specific time and date, without more, is insufficient to establish a material violation of a condition to 'live honorably'…

[2] A probationer's future should not rest solely on the whim or caprice of a police officer, irrespective of guilt or innocence of an arrest charge.

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Key Quotes

“the bare assertion of the probationer being arrested at 1:30 AM on a given date by a police officer, without more, is not a sufficient factual basis upon which to charge a violation of the probation condition "to live honorably"”

Establishes the core holding that arrest alone cannot support revocation without additional factual allegations

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Facts & Procedural History

Crum pleaded guilty to robbery and was placed on probation. His probation was subsequently revoked based on an allegation that he violated the conditi…

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Opinion of the Court
OWEN, Chief Judge.

OWEN, Chief Judge.

Appellant, having pled guilty to the offense of robbery, was placed on probation. Subsequently, probation was revoked. It is this order which we are asked to review.

Both the affidavit and warrant allege that appellant had violated the conditions of his probation in a material respect by:

“Violation of Condition (e) Re: Failure to live honorably, in that the aforesaid was arrested at 1:30 AM on December 28, 1971 by Officer Conrad Killian, O.P.D.” (Emphasis supplied)

A hearing was held, at the conclusion of which the court entered its order of revocation of probation in which the violation was set forth in the identical language above •quoted.

It is our view and we so hold that the bare assertion of the probationer being arrested at 1:30 AM on a given date by a police officer, without more, is not a sufficient factual basis upon which to charge a violation of the probation condition “to live honorably”. Otherwise, if the mere fact of being-arrested at 1:30 AM by a police officer would, standing alone, cause a probationer to be guilty of violating the condition requiring him “to live honorably”, irrespective of his guilt or innocence of the charge for which arrested, or for that matter irrespective of whether the officer even had grounds to make such arrest, then a probationer’s future would at all times rest solely upon the whim or caprice of any police officer whom he happened to meet at 1:30 in the morning.

True, F.S. Section 949.10, F.S.A. 1972 provides that the subsequent arrest on a felony charge, in this state, of any person who has been placed on probation following a plea of guilty to any felony, shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of the terms and conditions of such probation. The purpose of this statute is to authorize temporary revocation and retention in custody pending a hearing as provided in F.S. Section 949.11, F.S.A. The statute does not purport to make the subsequent arrest on a felony charge in and of itself a substantive violation of the terms and conditions of probation. Be that as it may, in this case there was not even an allegation that appellant was arrested on a felony charge.

At the hearing on the alleged probation violation, the State introduced without objection competent substantial evidence from which the trial judge could have concluded that sometime between the date appellant was placed on probation and the date he was arrested, he had participated in the burglary of the residence of one Julia A. Saxon. Yet, for some unexplained reason the probation supervisor who signed the affidavit of probation violation did not see fit to charge appellant with this conduct as being violative of the condition “to live honorably”, nor was appellant charged with violation of another condition of the probation order which required him to observe a 10:00 PM curfew. We do not know why appellant was not charged with the violations which apparently could have been so easily proven. We do know that case law now recognizes that fundamental due process requires that a revocation be based only on the violation alleged and after hearing. Hooks v. State, Fla.App.1968, 207 So. 2d 459; Brill v. State, 1947, 159 Fla. 682, 32 So. 2d 607.

The violation alleged was not sufficient as a matter of law. Violations which would have been sufficient and which were apparently proven at the hearing were not alleged. The order of revocation of probation is reversed.

Reversed.

WALDEN and CROSS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (18 total)

  • Hines v. State, 358 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 1978)
    …ision below, reported at 346 So. 2d 1235 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1977),1 and the decisions to the contrary on the same issue in Frederick v. State, 339 So. 2d 251 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); Singletary v. State, 290 So. 2d 116 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974); and Crum v. State, 286 So. 2d 268 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). We determine that such an allegation is a sufficient basis for the revocation of probation if the probationer is given adequate written notice of the felony upon which the revocation is to be based, consistent with the requireme…
  • Singletary v. State, 290 So. 2d 116 (Fla. 4th DCA 1974)
    …e as a charging document if it alleges, as it should, facts sufficient to give written notice of the claimed violations and which, if proved, constitute a violation of probation terms and conditions as a matter of law, see Crum v. State, 4 DCA Fla., 286 So. 2d 268, opinion filed December 14, 1973. . RCrP Rule 3.130. In Morrissey and Gag-non the majority decline to hold that counsel must be furnished the indigent parolee and probationer. Here Singletary was represented at his revocation hearing by appointed c…
    1 / 2
  • Brown v. State, 338 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)
    …uent arrest on a felony charge shall be pri-ma facie evidence of the violation of the terms and conditions of probation, the purpose of this statute is only to authorize temporary revocation and retention in custody pending a hearing. Crum v. State, 286 So. 2d 268 (Fla.4th DCA 1973).…

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