GAYLON E. BOATMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1975-01-24
No. 73-791
GRIMES and SCHEB, JJ., concur.
306 So. 2d 592 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1975) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed a marijuana conviction where the defendant, initially arrested as a juvenile, was transferred to adult court but tried 299 days after arrest, exceeding the 180-day speedy trial requirement. The court held that once a juvenile is certified to adult court, all adult procedural rules, including the speedy trial rule, apply from the original arrest date.


Holding

Once a juvenile is certified to adult court, all adult rules, including the speedy trial rule, apply from the original arrest date. The defendant must be brought to trial within 180 days of arrest, and exceeding this period constitutes reversible error.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant certified to be tried as an adult is subject to the adult speedy trial rule, even if the initial proceedings were in juvenile court.

[2] The speedy trial rule is not merely procedural and can be considered a substantive right when its denial affects a defendant.

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Key Quotes

“It is extremely doubtful, to begin with, that the speedy trial rule in its present form is purely a procedural one. Certainly a procedural right assumes aspects of a substantive right when it is denied one and given to another.”

Establishes that procedural rules protecting trial timing can have substantive implications when applied discriminately.

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Facts & Procedural History

Boatman was arrested on August 4, 1972, at age 15. The State filed a juvenile delinquency petition on August 16, 1972. At an October 24, 1972 hearing,…

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Opinion of the Court
McNULTY, Chief Judge.

McNULTY, Chief Judge.

Appellant attacks an order denying his motion for discharge under the speedy trial rule and his subsequent conviction for delivery and possession of marijuana. We reverse.

Appellant was initially arrested on August 4, 1972. He was fifteen years of age. Pursuant to the prescribed juvenile procedures at that time, the State filed a petition on August 16, 1972 to have him adjudicated a delinquent child.1 Again as provided by the then existing law, appellant’s mother and counsel indicated to the juvenile court, at a hearing on the petition held October 24, 1972, that they wished to waive jurisdiction in the juvenile court and have the matter transferred to the circuit court for the prosecution of appellant as an adult.2 Because of the mother’s apparent equivocation on this waiver, however, the juvenile court did not immediately transfer the matter but gave the mother one week in which to make up her mind. She procured new counsel for appellant on November 1 and thereafter, on November 16, new counsel filed a demand for jury trial serving a copy thereof on the State. Notwithstanding, no action was taken by the juvenile court to transfer the cause to the circuit court until February 12, 1973, after which an information on the instant charges was filed in the circuit court on April 3, 1973. Appellant’s subsequent motion for speedy trial discharge was denied on the day of trial, May 30, and he was convicted after jury trial on that day, 299 days after he was initially arrested as aforesaid. It is only necessary to consider this aspect of the case.

Recapitulating the time periods involved we see the following: From the date of arrest, August 4, 1972, until November 16, 1972 (the date of the waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction and demand to be treated as an adult), a total of 104 days elapsed. Even if we charged appellant with “defendant caused delay,” which could only be from October 24 to November 16 or 23 days (the time during which his mother and counsel were making up their minds concerning waiver), we can figure that 81 days had expired from the date of the initial arrest. When the juvenile court thereafter relinquished jurisdiction and trans ferred the cause to the circuit court on February 12, 88 more days had passed; so at that point at least 169 chargeable days had passed from the aforesaid initial arrest. Yet another 130 days passed before he was ultimately tried and convicted.

The State would have it that since Rule 3.191 RCrP, i.e., the speedy trial rule, is merely procedural and simply prescribed an arbitrary 180-day period during which trial must be held in the case of an adult, and since there was no speedy trial rule relating to juveniles at the times material herein, no rule of substantive law requires that we apply the adult speedy trial rule in the instant case. We reject this rationale.

It is extremely doubtful, to begin with, that the speedy trial rule in its present form is purely a procedural one. Certainly a procedural right assumes aspects of a substantive right when it is denied one and given to another.3 In any case, whatever appellant’s rights were prior to his having been certified to the circuit court, when he was so certified he was an adult for all intents and purposes and all rules applicable to adults then and there came to fruition as to him. This would include, of course, Rule 3.191, supra, which obviously must be applied according to its terms. Those terms require that appellant must be brought to trial on or before 180 days from the date he was taken into custody for the conduct giving rise to the in-' stant charges. That date was August 4, 1972. Accordingly, it was error to deny appellant’s motion for a speedy trial discharge made after 180 chargeable days therefrom.

In view whereof, the judgment and sentence appealed from should be, and they are hereby, reversed with directions that appellant be released and forever discharged from further response to the charges herein.

GRIMES and SCHEB, JJ., concur. . Section 39.05, F.S.1971.

. Section 39.02(6) (b), F.S.1971 (now § 39.-02(5) (b), F.S.1973).

. Cf. In re Gault (1967), 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Gaylon E. Boatman, 329 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 1976)
    …OVERTON, Chief Justice. This is a petition for writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal reported at 306 So. 2d 592 (Fla.App.2d 1974). This decision conflicts with State v. Bryant, 276 So. 2d 184 (Fla.App. 1st 1973). We have jurisdiction.1 This cause concerns the application of the speedy trial rule to a juvenile. At issue is the computation and applicability of…
  • White v. State, 338 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)
    …him to a discharge as a matter of right. See Rule 3.191(a)(1). Fla.R.Crim.P, More than 180 days had elapsed since defendant was taken into custody as a result of the conduct of the criminal episode giving rise to the crime charged. Boatman v. State, 306 So. 2d 592 (Fla.2d DCA 1975); Benton v. State, 307 So. 2d 198 (Fla.2d DCA 1975). See also State v. Benton, Fla.Sup.Ct., 337 So. 2d 797, opinion filed Sept. 16, 1976. Moreover, the speedy trial period had run before any discovery demands had been made so that t…
  • Benton v. State, 307 So. 2d 198 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975)
    …afforded by January 9, 1974, appellant filed a motion for discharge under the Speedy Trial Rule. The motion was denied and appellant was convicted on January 16, 1974. In an opinion recently issued, this court in Boatman v. State, Fla.App.2d, 1975, 306 So. 2d 592, under substantially similar circumstances, directed the defendant’s discharge for failure of the State to bring him to trial within 180 days of his arrest. The same principles apply here. Having elected to require appellant to be tried as an adult,…

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