France v. Judd

932 So. 2d 1263, 2006 WL 1933388
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 14, 2006
Docket2D06-1841
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 932 So. 2d 1263 (France v. Judd) 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
France v. Judd, 932 So. 2d 1263, 2006 WL 1933388 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

932 So.2d 1263 (2006)

Meleah E. FRANCE, Petitioner,
v.
Grady JUDD, in his capacity as Sheriff of Polk County, Florida, Respondent.

No. 2D06-1841.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

July 14, 2006.

*1264 James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and William E. McManus, Jr., Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Petitioner.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Danilo Cruz-Carino, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Respondent.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

Meleah E. France petitioned this court for a writ of habeas corpus ordering her release from the Polk County Jail, where she was held as a fugitive from the states of Illinois and Missouri. By previous unpublished order, we granted France's petition and directed her release on the out-of-state charges.[1] We now write to explain our reasons.

In her petition, France contended that she was illegally held without bond on the out-of-state charges because the procedures outlined in sections 941.13, 941.14, and 941.15, Florida Statutes (2005), were not properly followed. These statutes, enacted in 1941, are derived from the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. See ch. 20460, §§ 13, 14, 15, Laws of Fla. (1941).[2] The Act facilitates provisions of the United States Constitution and federal implementing legislation that provide for the extradition of fugitives from state to state, upon one governor's demand to another. U.S. Const., art. IV, § 2, cl. 2; 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 3182, 3194, and 3195; § 941.02, Fla. Stat. (2005). Likewise, under the uniform law the extradition process is primarily an executive function, in which the governor of the state from which the fugitive has fled may issue a written demand, or "requisition," to the governor of the asylum state to detain the fugitive and deliver her to the demanding state. §§ 941.03, .22, Fla. Stat. (2005).

Under the Act, a governor's demand for extradition must be accompanied by, among other things, an authenticated copy of (1) an indictment or an information supported by affidavit in the state having jurisdiction of the crime; (2) a warrant supported by an affidavit made before a committing magistrate of the demanding state; or (3) a judgment of conviction or a sentence imposed in execution thereof, together with a statement by the executive authority of the demanding state that the person claimed has escaped from confinement or has broken the terms of his or her bail, probation, or parole. § 941.03, Fla. Stat. (2005). The import of this requirement is to demonstrate either that there has been a judicial determination of probable cause to believe that the accused committed the crime for which she is wanted or that she has been convicted of it. See, e.g., Shapiro v. State, 456 So.2d 968 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); State v. Diaz, 440 So.2d 1318 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Chesser v. *1265 Dougherty, 417 So.2d 1164 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).

If the asylum state governor determines that the demand is in order and should be honored, he must issue a warrant for the arrest of the fugitive. § 941.07, Fla. Stat. (2005). This is sometimes referred to as a "rendition warrant" or "extradition warrant."

France's case involves provisions of the Act that permit the arrest and detention of an accused fugitive before the issuance of a governor's arrest warrant. A Florida court may order the pre-requisition arrest of an accused fugitive by issuing an arrest warrant, commonly known as a "fugitive warrant," under section 941.13. That statute authorizes the issuance of a fugitive warrant under two scenarios.[3] Under the first, a "credible person" must charge before a Florida judge that a person in Florida either (1) has committed a crime in another state and has fled from justice, or (2) has been convicted of a crime in another state and has escaped from confinement or broken the terms of her bail, probation, or parole. Under the second method, a complaint is presented to a Florida judge based on an affidavit from a credible person in the demanding state attesting either (1) that a crime has been committed in that state, that the accused has been charged with the committing the crime, and that the accused has fled from justice; or (2) that the accused has been convicted of a crime in that state and has escaped from confinement or broken the terms of her bail, probation, or parole, and is believed to be in Florida.

There is a notable difference between the two methods for securing a fugitive warrant to arrest an accused who has not been convicted. Under the first method, the accused need not have been formally charged with committing the out-of-state crime. All that is required is that a credible person charge under oath before a Florida judge that the person committed a crime in the demanding state and has fled. In the second scenario, however, the person for whom the warrant is sought must have been formally charged in the demanding state with committing a crime in that state.

It is also important to note that the requirements of section 941.13 generally comport with the showing that would satisfy the requirement of probable cause either for the issuance of an arrest warrant generally or at a pretrial nonadversary *1266 probable cause determination at a first appearance hearing under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.133(a)(3). See Perry v. State, 842 So.2d 301, 303 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). Thus, whereas the governor may issue an extradition warrant only after the demanding state governor has documented that there has been a judicial determination of probable cause, in the absence of an extradition warrant a court may issue a fugitive warrant only after it has received either a direct showing of probable cause or proof that one has been made in the demanding state.

Warrantless pre-requisition arrests are permitted by section 941.14, provided that three elements are satisfied. Under the statute, an alleged fugitive may be arrested without a warrant (1) based on "reasonable information" that (2) the person "stands charged in the courts of a state" with (3) "a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year. . . ."[4]

Importantly, section 941.14 further provides that a person arrested without a warrant under that statute "must be taken before a judge with all practicable speed and complaint must be made against the accused under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in the preceding section; and thereafter his or her answer shall be heard as if the accused had been arrested on a warrant." In other words, as soon as practicable after a warrantless arrest, the probable cause requirements for obtaining a fugitive warrant under section 941.13 must be established.

When an accused fugitive is arrested pre-requisition, whether pursuant to a fugitive warrant or not, section 941.15 requires the judge to perform an examination to determine whether "it appears that the person held is the person charged with having committed the crime alleged and. . . that the person has fled from justice. . . ."[5] If so, the judge must issue a warrant reciting the accusation against the fugitive and committing her to the county jail for a specified period, not exceeding thirty days, pending her arrest on a governor's rendition warrant. If the rendition warrant is not forthcoming during that period, the court may extend the commitment for up to sixty days. § 941.17, Fla. Stat. (2005).

In this case, none of the foregoing statutes were honored. A Polk County sheriff's deputy arrested France on April 7, 2006, for a local misdemeanor.

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Related

Avant v. Judd
259 So. 3d 832 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
932 So. 2d 1263, 2006 WL 1933388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/france-v-judd-fladistctapp-2006.