EARL R. BAMBER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1974-08-02
No. 74-764
MANN, C. J., and GRIMES, J., concur., McNULTY, J., dissents with opinion.
300 So. 2d 269 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1974) Caution
Cited by 14 cases

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Synopsis

Earl Bamber appeals the denial of bail pending his felony appeal. The court held that Florida's statutory prohibition on bail for repeat felons violates the court's procedural discretion under the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, reversing the trial court's automatic denial and requiring a hearing to determine bail eligibility.


Holding

Section 903.132 is an invalid restriction on the court's discretionary authority. The legislature cannot deprive the court of its discretion to determine whether bail should be granted pursuant to the rules of criminal procedure. The trial court must conduct a hearing based on competent evidence to determine bail eligibility, consistent with the principles established in Younghans v. State.


Headnotes

[1] A statute prohibiting bail pending appeal from a felony conviction, even for a second or subsequent offense, is invalid if it conflicts with a rule of criminal procedure…

[2] The legislature cannot deprive courts of their discretion to determine whether bail should be granted pending appeal.

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Key Quotes

“the legislature cannot deprive the court of its discretion to determine whether bail should be granted pursuant to a rule of criminal procedure”

Establishes the core holding that bail determination is a procedural matter within the court's discretion, not a substantive matter the legislature can mandate

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Facts & Procedural History

Bamber was convicted of a felony and filed a notice of appeal. He then moved for bail pending appeal. The trial judge denied the motion citing Florida…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Upon being convicted of a felony, and after having filed a notice of appeal therefrom, appellant moved for the setting of bail pending the appeal. The trial judge denied said motion saying :

“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the defendant’s Motion is hereby denied pursuant to Florida Statute 903.132.”

Section 903.132, F.S.A.1974, provides as follows:

“Bail on appeal; prohibited after second or subsequent felony conviction.— No person may be admitted to bail upon appeal from a conviction of a felony if such person has previously been convicted of a felony, the commission of which occurred prior to the commission of the subsequent felony . . . . ” (Emphasis ours).

From the sparse record before us we cannot determine what, if any, proceeding the trial court conducted to determine whether appellant had previously been convicted of a felony. In any case, appellant does not deny that the instant felony conviction is a second or subsequent felony conviction, so for purposes hereof we will assume the situation contemplated by the statute.

The point is whether Section 903.132, supra, is mandatory or whether the denial of bail pending appeal is discretionary with the court limited only by the discipline of Younghans v. State 1 in which it was held that the court must, before denying bail pending appeal, make certain findings based on competent evidence.2 This brings the statute in apparent conflict with Rule 3.691(a), CrPR, 3 which provides, in material part, that

“. . . a person may be denied bail upon appeal from conviction of a felony if such person had previously been convicted of a felony. . . .” (Emphasis ours.)

The state contends that entitlement to bail is a substantive matter, and thus within the purview of legislative enactment,4 while appellant contends that it is a procedural matter amenable to court rule.5

We believe that our decision is controlled by the recent case of Bernhardt v. State 6 in which the Supreme Court appears to have impliedly overruled Palladino . and Greene, insofar as they hold that the legislature may enact laws concerning the right to bail. While Bernhardt dealt with a different statute than the one involved in the instant case, the language of the opinion clearly states that the legislature cannot deprive the court of its discretion to determine whether bail should be granted pursuant to a rule of criminal procedure.

Accordingly, the order denying bail is reversed and the matter is hereby remanded for a hearing according to the principle of Younghans v. State, supra.

MANN, C. J., and GRIMES, J., concur. McNULTY, J., dissents with opinion.

. (Fla.1956) 90 So. 2d 308.

.. See also,. Rules 3.691, CrPR, and 6.15, F.A.R. .Which is, in substance, consistent with a corresponding appellate rule, to wit: Rule 6.15, F.A.R. . See, Palladino v. Turner (Fla.1972) 263 So. 2d 206, and Greene v. State (Fla.1970) 238 So. 2d 296. See also, Ex parte Hyde (1939) 140 Fla. 494, 192 So. 159.

. See, Art. V, Sec. 2(a), Florida Constitution.

. (Fla.1974) 288 So. 2d 490.

Dissent
McNULTY, Judge

McNULTY, Judge

(dissenting) :

I must dissent. I do not consider Bernhardt, or anything said therein, as controlling. There the court was concerned with entirely different statutory provisions and with an entirely different rule than those here. Indeed, I would agree that the sections considered in Bernhardt, which were concerned with proceedings in probation or parole revocation matters, are essentially procedural and thus amenable to Supreme Court rule which, under the constitution, pre-empts legislation. I would further agree that the incidental provision of those statutes relating to no bail, although in my view a substantive matter, does not change their essential character from matters or procedure to matters substantive. Accordingly, I have no.quarrel with Bernhardt.

Here, however, we are dealing strictly with a statute the single subject of which relates to entitlement to bail. This is a substantive matter and not procedural. Therefore, I would think the rationale underlying the Supreme Court’s decisions in Palladino v. Turner, supra, and in Greene v. State, supra, which consider the specific statute now before us, would require a denial of the motion.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Rowe v. State, 394 So. 2d 1059 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
    …e person previously had been convicted of a felony. The legislature, in 1974, attempted to eliminate this discretion by Section 903.132 prohibiting the release on bail of an appellant who had previously been convicted of a felony. In Bamber v. State 300 So. 2d 269 (Fla.2d DCA 1974), the court ruled that the rule superseded the statute. See also, Rolle v. State, 314 So. 2d 624 (Fla.1st DCA 1975). Subsequent to these decisions, the legislature, Chapter 76-138, Section 2, Laws of Florida by appropriate vote repe…
  • State of Fla. ex rel. Kenneth Harrington v. Genung, 300 So. 2d 271 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974)
    …McNULTY, Judge (specially concurring) : I fully concur in the conclusion and opinion of my brother Hobson. However, lest this concurrence gives rise to confusion about my dissent in Bamber v. State (Fla.App.2d, 1974), 300 So. 2d 269. I wish to point out the distinguishing features. In Bamber the question was whether or not the trial court had authority to admit to bail a second or subsequent felony offender, pending appeal of his last felony conviction, in the face of an expre…
  • Gallie v. Wainwright, 362 So. 2d 936 (Fla. 1978)
    …such cases discretionary, resulted in rulings by the First and Second District Courts of Appeal that the rule took precedence over the statute because bail is a procedural matter. Rolle v. State, 314 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); Bamber v. State, 300 So. 2d 269 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974). It was expressly in response to these decisions that the legislature enacted Chapter 76-138, which revised Section 903.132 into its present form and repealed Rules 3.130(a) and 3.691(a) “insofar as they are inconsistent with” the…

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