Burk v. Washington

713 So. 2d 988, 1998 WL 315150
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 12, 1998
Docket89829
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 713 So. 2d 988 (Burk v. Washington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burk v. Washington, 713 So. 2d 988, 1998 WL 315150 (Fla. 1998).

Opinion

713 So.2d 988 (1998)

Hon. Warren BURK, Circuit Court Judge, etc., Petitioner,
v.
Shalonda WASHINGTON, Respondent.

No. 89829.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 12, 1998.

*989 Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Anthony J. Hall and Wesley Heidt, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, for Petitioner.

Blaise Trettis, Executive Assistant Public Defender, Viera, for Respondent.

ANSTEAD, Justice.

We have for review Washington v. Burk, 704 So.2d 540 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), based upon direct and express conflict with Drost v. Drost, 519 So.2d 698 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed below, we approve the result in Washington but hold that from this date forward the criminal speedy trial rule shall not apply to criminal contempt proceedings initiated by a court on its own motion.

MATERIAL FACTS[1]

On November 28, 1995, petitioner Shalonda Washington (Washington) was arrested for an alleged violation of section 741.31(4)(b), Florida Statutes (1995), a firstdegree misdemeanor,[2] for violating a courtordered injunction which barred her from visiting Amy Litchfield's workplace. Thereafter, the State obtained continuances at two docket soundings and subsequently failed to even file an information charging Washington. Washington's counsel filed a motion for discharge under the speedy trial rule in the county court on February 27, 1996, but the motion was rendered moot and the county court prosecution ended after the State filed a nolle prosequi in the case.

However, that was not to be the end of the matter. On March 11, 1996, the State reinitiated the criminal proceedings against Washington by a separate motion in the family division of the circuit court asking the court to direct Washington to show cause why she should not be held in criminal contempt of court. The motion was predicated on the same alleged violation of the injunction enjoining her from contact with Litchfield that had been the subject of the State's previous arrest of Washington. The circuit court granted the State's request and issued an order to show cause, thereby initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Washington based upon the same conduct for which she had previously been arrested. The court subsequently denied Washington's motion for discharge, which claimed that the speedy trial time period for the criminal contempt had commenced when she was arrested on November 28, 1995, and expired ninety days thereafter. The trial judge's denial of Washington's *990 motion for discharge was based on the decision in Mauney v. State, 507 So.2d 746 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987), which had held that the speedy trial rule[3] did not apply to indirect criminal contempt proceedings.

Subsequently, the district court, in a twoto-one decision, granted prohibition to Washington and barred her prosecution for criminal contempt. The court expressed concern that since criminal contempt prosecutions for protective injunction violations were commonly initiated by the State, not the court, a defendant's speedy trial rights would be subject to abuse if the State were permitted to renew the same charges against a defendant after failing to comply with the speedy trial rule in an initial prosecution. After recognizing the applicability of the rules of criminal procedure to contempt actions per Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.010, the majority concluded that criminal contempt is subject to the limitations of the speedy trial rule. The court expressly receded from its earlier decision in Mauney in holding that the speedy trial rule applies to all indirect criminal contempts, "whether initiated by arrest or service of an order to show cause." 704 So.2d at 543.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

At the outset, we recognize that all criminal defendants are guaranteed a speedy trial by both the United States[4] and Florida[5] Constitutions. The existence of that constitutional right and its application is not an issue before us. Instead, this case confronts us with the question of whether our courtauthored speedy trial rule applies to indirect criminal contempt proceedings. Put another way, we must determine whether this Court, in adopting the speedy trial rule as a rule of Court, see In re Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, 245 So.2d 33 (Fla.1971), contemplated that this rule be applied to indirect criminal contempt proceedings initiated and conducted by courts.

MAUNEY

In Mauney,[6] the defendant was the investigating officer in a vehicular manslaughter case who was served with a subpoena to appear for trial and was eventually found guilty of indirect criminal contempt of court for failure to appear. 507 So.2d at 747. On appeal, he argued that his conviction was barred by the speedy trial rule. The Fifth District concluded that the speedy trial rule was inapplicable:

Rule 3.840 sets out the procedure which a court must follow in prosecuting indirect criminal contempt matters. There is no cross-reference to the Speedy Trial Rule. Such cases commence with an order to show cause issued by the judge. A defendant is notified of a specified time and place for a hearing "with a reasonable time allowed for preparation of the defense after service of the order on the defendant." The judge may issue an order of arrest if it seems the defendant will not appear for the show cause hearing (Rule 3.840(a)(2)). But an arrest is not necessary, and as contemplated by the rule, would only occur in an unusual case.
The language of Speedy Trial Rule 3.191(a)(1) simply does not mesh with rule 3.840. Initially it states it applies to "every person charged with a crime by indictment or information." These are charging documents filed by the prosecution; not a judge. Secondly, the time periods established by the rule start running when a *991 person "is arrested" or served with a notice to appear "in lieu of physical arrest." As noted above, show cause orders in indirect criminal contempt matters are not generally coupled with an arrest, nor are they "in lieu" of a physical arrest.
We do not think that Florida's Speedy Trial Rule 3.191(a)(1) was intended to apply to proceedings under rule 3.840 or rule 3.830.

Id. at 748. As mentioned above, the district court majority opinion here receded from Mauney and concluded that indirect criminal contempt is a criminal proceeding, subject to the speedy trial rule, notwithstanding the type of charging document used or who initiates the proceedings. Washington, 704 So.2d at 543.

WASHINGTON

In addressing this case we perceive two (2) distinct issues: one, the application of the speedy trial rule to this particular case; and two, the broader question of the applicability of the rule to traditional court-initiated criminal contempt proceedings. The majority in the district court in Washington focused on the prevailing manner of enforcement and prosecution of domestic violence injunction violations. First, the majority noted Washington's contention that "[a]s in all prosecutions for indirect criminal contempt for violation of a protective injunction in Brevard County, the order to show cause in the petitioner's case was initiated, written, and submitted by the State of Florida—not by the court." 704 So.2d at 542. Second, the majority noted Washington's argument that pursuant to section 741.2091(1),[7]

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Bluebook (online)
713 So. 2d 988, 1998 WL 315150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burk-v-washington-fla-1998.