STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ALBERT JONES AND NELLERINE JONES, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 1976-06-07
No. AA-136
RAWLS, Acting C. J., and SMITH, J., concur.
332 So. 2d 699 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1976) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Holding

The court held that the trial court correctly discharged the defendants under the speedy trial rule, as October 27 was not a legal holiday according to Florida Statutes.


Headnotes

[1] A period of time prescribed by the Rules of Criminal Procedure runs until the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, if the last day of the…

[2] Legal holidays are defined by statute and are not considered non-juridical days unless statutes mandate such a status.

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Facts & Procedural History

Defendants were charged with felonies and their trial was set for October 28, 1975. On the trial date, they moved for discharge, alleging they had not…

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Opinion of the Court
McCORD, Judge.

McCORD, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the trial court discharging the appellees pursuant to Rule 3.191, F.R.Cr.P., the speedy trial rule. Appellees were charged with three felony counts and at arraignment they entered pleas of not guilty and their trial was set for October 28, 1975. On the trial date, they filed motions for discharge alleging that neither had been brought to trial within 180 days as required by Rule 3.191(a)(1), F.R.Cr.P. After hearing the trial court entered the order from which appeal is taken, ruling as follows:

“THE ABOVE cause having come on to be heard on each defendants’ Motion for discharge and counsel for the State and defendants having stipulated that the 180 days provided by Rule 3.191 expired October 27, 1975, and the Criminal Docket of this Court having been sounded on the 13th day of October, 1975, and the Court and the Court officials present having been under the erroneous impression that October 27th was a legal holiday the Court thereupon scheduled the above styled cause for trial on October 28th, 1975, and that during said 180 days the defendants were continuously available for trial, and the Court having heard argument of counsel for the State and defendants and being of the opinion that the Motions are well taken, it is thereupon

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the said Motions being the same are hereby granted and each of the defendants are discharged in the above cause.”

In further amplification of the court’s order, it should be pointed out that at the hearing on motion for discharge, the court stated that it was misinformed; that it was told by everybody that October 27 was a legal holiday; that had it known it was not, it would have tried the case on that day even though the courthouse offices were closed; that the state could not expect the court to keep up with time running out under the speedy trial rule.

October 27, the 180th day, was a federal holiday, Veteran’s Day, and was observed by federal offices. The Florida Legislature has officially designated Veteran’s Day as November 11 by § 683.01(1), Florida Statutes. Rule 3.040, F.R.Cr.P., governs the computation of any period of time prescribed or allowed by the Rules of Criminal Procedure with certain exceptions not pertinent here. It provides that “the last day of the period so computed' shall be counted, unless it is Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday, in which event the period shall run until the end of the next day which is either a Saturday, Sunday nor a legal holiday.” § 683.01, Florida Statutes, prescribes the legal holidays and it states in pertinent part as follows:

“(1) The legal holidays, which are also public holidays, are the following:
* * * * * *

(m) Veteran’s Day, November 11. * * ”

The statute does not define October 27 as a legal holiday. Since the term “legal holiday” is not defined by the Rules of Criminal Procedure, the statutory definition applies. See City of St. Petersburg v. Division of Administration, Department of Transportation, State of Florida, Fla.App. (2d), 276 So. 2d 229 (1973). While the Florida Appellate Rules do not apply to criminal trials, we note that Rule 1.3 thereof lists Veteran’s Day, November 11 as a legal holiday and does not list October 27. The appellate rule also lists as a holiday “any other day that, pursuant to order of court, the clerk’s office of such court is officially closed,” but even if the appellate rules were applicable, it does not appear that the clerk’s office of Bay County was officially closed by order of court.

Farrell v. Bendix Corp., Fla.App. (4th), 232 So. 2d 419 (1970), is a case somewhat analagous to the case sub judice although it involved construction of the appellate rules. The question there was whether or not December 26 was a “legal holiday” under the appellate rules. There, December 26 had been declared' a “legal holiday” for federal employees by the President, and the county commission of Brevard County had also declared it a holiday. The contention was made that December 26 should be considered a “legal holiday” for the purposes of the Florida Appellate Rules. The Appellate Rules did not define December 26 as a legal holiday. The court there stated:

“We think the proper view to be taken of such holidays is stated in 30 Fla.Jur., Sundays and Holidays, § 8:
‘Statutory or legal holidays are not regarded by the courts as non juridical days unless the courts are constrained to regard them as such by the terms or the necessary effect of statutes. A legal holiday has only the sanctity attached to it by statute. But Sundays in this state occupies the status of a nonjuridical day. * * * ’”

The trial court’s construction of the speedy trial rule was correct.

AFFIRMED.

RAWLS, Acting C. J., and SMITH, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Carter, 397 So. 2d 679 (Fla. 1981)
    …trial. See, e. g, Stuart v. State, [*681] 360 So. 2d 406 (Fla.1978); Allen v. State, 275 So. 2d 238 (Fla.1973); State ex rel. Smith v. Nesbitt, 355 So. 2d 202 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Jenkins v. State, 349 So. 2d 1192 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977); State v. Jones, 332 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); State v. Cannon, 332 So. 2d 127 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976); Mullin v. State, 307 So. 2d 829 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974), cert. denied, 317 So. 2d 761 (Fla.1975); Riggins v. State, 301 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974); Pouncy v. State, 296 So. 2d…
  • Turner v. State, 382 So. 2d 780 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)
    …holidays. Since the Rules of Criminal Procedure do not define legal holidays, it is our. view that the term “legal holiday” as used in Rule 3.040, supra, refers to the legal holidays specified in Chapter 683 of the Florida Statutes. State v. Jones, 332 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). We thus conclude that Friday, November 24, 1978, was the 180th day for bringing appellant to trial. To rule otherwise would be tantamount to holding that the speedy trial rule can be extended simply by an administrative order of…
  • Crane v. Honorable Raymond L. Simpson, 352 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)
    …n issue in this case. . 275 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 1973). . Leon v. Baker, 238 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1970); Leonard v. McIntosh, 237 So. 2d 809 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970); Clark v. Edwards, 234 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970), cert. den. 239 So. 2d 246 (Fla.1970). . 332 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). . 232 So. 2d 419 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970). . 30 Fla.Jur., Sundays and Holidays, § 38.…

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