Barns v. State

768 So. 2d 529, 2000 WL 1396323
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 27, 2000
Docket4D00-1250
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 768 So. 2d 529 (Barns v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barns v. State, 768 So. 2d 529, 2000 WL 1396323 (Fla. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

768 So.2d 529 (2000)

Robert BARNS, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 4D00-1250.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

September 27, 2000.

*530 Barbara J. Scheffer of Mitchell J. Beers, P.A., Palm Beach Gardens, for petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Don M. Rogers, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for respondent.

GROSS, J.

Petitioner Robert Barns was charged earlier this year with DUI manslaughter based on an automobile accident that resulted in the death of a nine-month-old child. He was released on a $100,000 bond. One of the conditions of his bond was that he consume no alcohol.

The state moved to revoke petitioner's bond. At a hearing on March 24, 2000, Officer David Kelley of the Palm Beach Shores Police Department testified that he encountered petitioner in a highly intoxicated state on March 22, 2000. Barns's wife testified that she and her husband were in the process of getting a divorce. She said Barns had come over to her home on the night of March 22 to work out a settlement; after dinner she and petitioner drank alcohol, two glasses of Grand Marnier each. As an alternative to detention, a third witness discussed an in-patient program in a non-secure facility where a patient is free to leave if he or she so chooses.

The state moved that the original bond be revoked, that a new bond of $250,000 be set, and that petitioner wear an ankle bracelet for monitoring house arrest, in addition to the other conditions of the original bond.

The trial judge ruled that it was necessary to incarcerate petitioner before trial in order to protect the community from physical harm. He acknowledged that such a showing might not have been sufficient to revoke bond under the prevailing case law in this district at the time. Even so, the judge said releasing Barns would place the community at risk of physical harm no matter what amount of bond or other condition was imposed.

In his petition, Barns relied primarily on Paul v. Jenne, 728 So.2d 1167 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. granted, 741 So.2d 1137 (Fla. 1999), to argue that the trial court's decision to revoke bond failed to comply with the pretrial detention statute, section 907.041, Florida Statutes (1999).

On April 24, 2000, we denied the petition for writ of habeas corpus by order, indicating that an opinion would follow. The court had tentatively voted to consider this case en banc for the purpose of receding from Paul as well as from Metzger v. Cochran, 694 So.2d 842 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) and Merdian v. Cochran, 654 So.2d 573 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). We found it to be significant that this case involved the revocation of a preexisting bond, one that had been set at the commencement of this case, and we intended to adopt the general lines of the dissent in Thomas v. Jenne, 766 So.2d 320 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (Gross, J., dissenting). The Thomas dissent contended that the revocation of a preexisting bond did not have to comply with the pretrial detention statute, and that, instead, such a revocation properly traveled under the more general provisions of sections 903.046 and 903.047, Florida Statutes (1999), and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131. The Thomas dissent also expressed concern that the extension of the law in Metzger, Merdian, and Paul "limited the inherent power of the trial courts and compromised the integrity of the judicial process, without a clear signal from the legislature...." Thomas, 766 So.2d at 324 (Gross, J., dissenting).

The legislature sent a clear signal about revocation of existing bonds during the 2000 session. While proposed opinions were still circulating through the court, the legislature passed Chapters 2000-178 and 2000-229, Laws of Florida.[1] Those statutes *531 amended, clarified, and supplemented the bond and pretrial release statutes. One effect of the statutes was to nullify our decisions in Paul, Metzger, and Merdian. The amendments followed the spirit of the Thomas dissent in its concern that trial judges not be constrained in dealing with bond violators, but confirmed that the legal approach of Paul was correct—that the pretrial detention statute applied to the revocation of an existing bond. The amendments expanded the power of the trial courts to revoke existing bonds and order pretrial detention.

The decisions in Paul v. Jenne, Merdian v. Cochran, and Metzger v. Cochran

Paul involved a defendant charged with attempted second degree murder. He was released on a $25,000 bond. While out on bond, he was arrested for firearms offenses, possession of cannabis, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The state moved to revoke the defendant's bond on the original charge and detain him without bond pending trial. See Paul, 728 So.2d at 1167.

After an evidentiary bond revocation hearing, the trial judge revoked the defendant's bond and remanded him into custody without bond pending trial. Ruling on the defendant's petition for writ of habeas corpus, we cited to Metzger to point out that where an existing bond is revoked, "a refusal `to impose any conditions of release thereafter constitutes pretrial detention, the need for which the State must prove... beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Id. at 1168 (quoting Metzger, 694 So.2d at 843).

The parties conceded that if the pretrial detention statute applied, the only section authorizing detention would be subsection 907.041(4)(b)4.b. We held that subsection to be inapplicable because the defendant had not been convicted of a "dangerous crime" within the meaning of the statute within the ten years immediately preceding his arrest for attempted second degree murder. See id.

We rejected the state's invitation to reexamine our position that "the trial court has no discretion to refuse readmission to bond upon breach of a bond condition, absent proof of the pretrial detention factors in section 907.041." Id. at 1169. We certified conflict with Houser v. Manning, 719 So.2d 307 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998). See id. at 1172. In doing so we gave deference to the legislative intent that we discerned behind the statute:

Although we agree with Houser that a trial court has the authority to revoke a defendant's bond under pretrial release rules allowing arrest and recommitment for bond violations, and pursuant to the court's inherent power to enforce its own orders, we disagree that a trial court has the absolute discretion to deny bond unless a defendant meets the criteria for detention without bond under the pretrial detention statutes. By breaching a condition of the bond originally set by the court, a defendant forfeits the right to continued release under the terms of that bond. However, the defendant does not forfeit his or her constitutionally guaranteed right to bail altogether; a refusal to readmit a defendant to any bail at all must be subject to the limitations of the pretrial detention statute.
* * *
We continue to hold, as we did in Merdian and Metzger, that the court's authority to deny bond pending trial is circumscribed by the provisions of Florida Statute section 907.041. The legislature has specifically delineated and narrowly limited those circumstances under which bond may be denied.

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Bluebook (online)
768 So. 2d 529, 2000 WL 1396323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barns-v-state-fladistctapp-2000.