RICHARD LEROY MURPHY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1978-10-11
No. 77-2295
BASKIN, NATALIE, Associate Judge, concurs., ANSTEAD, J., dissents with opinion.
363 So. 2d 581 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1978) Caution
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

A Florida appeals court reversed the trial court's denial of a motion to expunge the record of arrest and conviction for manslaughter where the State declined to retry the defendant after a successful appeal and the statute of limitations expired. The lower court improperly denied expungement based on hearsay traffic violation convictions from a pre-sentence report that were neither pleaded nor properly proved by the State.


Holding

The trial court erred in denying the expungement motion. Although prior criminal convictions can bar expungement under Section 901.33, Florida Statutes, the prior convictions must be properly pleaded and proved by the State with admissible evidence, not merely alleged through hearsay statements in a pre-sentence report without the defendant's right to cross-examination. The denial of expungement is reversed and remanded for entry of an expungement order.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant is entitled to expungement of an arrest record when the State declines to retry the defendant after a successful appeal of a conviction and the statute of lim…

[2] A trial court may not deny a motion to expunge an arrest record based on information contained in a pre-sentence report that was not properly pleaded and proven.

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Key Quotes

“He alleged and proved he was tried and convicted of manslaughter and after a successful appeal of his conviction the State declined to retry him and entered its nolle prosequi.”

Establishes the factual basis for eligibility for expungement - conviction reversed on appeal and prosecution abandoned.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant Murphy was tried, convicted, and imprisoned for manslaughter. He successfully appealed his conviction, and upon retrial being sought, the St…

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Opinion of the Court
DAUKSCH, Judge.

DAUKSCH, Judge.

Appellant sought to expunge the record of his arrest and conviction of manslaughter under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.692. He alleged and proved he was tried and convicted of manslaughter and after a successful appeal of his conviction the State declined to retry him and entered its nolle prosequi. The statute of limitations for his retrial has run.

At the hearing on his motion to expunge the appellant presented his affidavit that he had never been convicted of a criminal offense or a municipal ordinance violation and was released of the “instant charges” without having been adjudicated guilty, all in accordance with Section 901.33, Florida Statutes. The State neither traversed nor demurred to the motion of the appellant and did not present any evidence at the hearing to refute appellant’s sufficient allegations and proof but merely objected to the expungement.

The trial court refused to order the expungement of the record for the reason he read in the pre-sentence report, which was obtained after the original conviction, that appellant had been convicted of some traffic violations. Had these convictions been properly pleaded and proved by the state then they would have constituted a sufficient bar to the appellant’s requested expungement. They were not pleaded and were not properly proved. They were not properly proved because the records of the conviction were not furnished but merely a hearsay statement of a non-attending witness with no right to cross examination afforded. Of course had these convictions been properly pleaded and proved and had the affidavit of the appellant been shown to be perjurious a much more serious result might have occurred.

The order denying the motion for ex-pungement is reversed and this matter remanded for entry of an order in accordance herewith.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

BASKIN, NATALIE, Associate Judge, concurs.

ANSTEAD, J., dissents with opinion.

Dissent
ANSTEAD, Judge,

ANSTEAD, Judge,

dissenting:

The parties are here on a stipulated statement of facts. No court reporter was in attendance at the hearing on the motion to expunge. However, at the hearing the trial judge questioned the accuracy of the appellant’s affidavit on the basis of the trial court’s recollection of the contents of a pri-or presentence investigation. The trial judge indicated that he would check the court file before ruling. No objection was made to this procedure. Upon checking the court file the trial judge found a record in the presentence investigation report of numerous prior traffic offenses contrary to the appellant’s sworn assertions in his affidavit. The trial court then denied the motion to expunge. I can find no error on the part of the trial court who conscientiously, and without objection, checked and determined that the appellant’s traffic record was contrary to appellant’s sworn representations.

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Citator

Cited By

  • VFD v. State, 19 So. 3d 1172 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009)
    …s cited therein. See also Harman, 12 So. 3d at 899 (holding trial court abused its discretion in denying petition to expunge based on a prior offense because “there was no evidence presented at the hearing to support this finding”); Murphy v. State, 363 So. 2d 581, 582 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978) (reversing order denying expunction because the state “did not present any evidence at the hearing to refute appellant’s sufficient allegations and proof but merely objected to the expungement”). Denial of VFD’s petition on…
  • Simone Maxwell v. State, 185 So. 3d 702 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)
    …trial, the FDLE initially denied Appellant’s request for a certificate of eligibility. Upon a motion by Appellant, the trial court overrode this decision and ordered the FDLE to issue her a certificate. Appellant’s motion relied on Murphy v. State, 363 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), involving an ex’tremely outdated version of the statute. It appears to us that-the FDLE’s initial determination was correct. The ASA’s statement failed to address the fact that the charge had resulted in trial, The fact that th…
  • State v. O.I.W., 616 So. 2d 638 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)
    …als as to appellees D.G.C. and O.I.W. As to the remaining two appellees, V.M.B., and A.D., we affirm the orders expunging and sealing their records, § 943.058, Fla.Stat. (1991); see Babun v. State, 576 So. 2d 377 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Murphy v. State, 363 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), without prejudice to the state commencing any appropriate action in the trial court.…

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