Houser v. Manning

719 So. 2d 307, 1998 WL 406048
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 22, 1998
Docket98-1737
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 719 So. 2d 307 (Houser v. Manning) 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
Houser v. Manning, 719 So. 2d 307, 1998 WL 406048 (Fla. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

719 So.2d 307 (1998)

Kevin HOUSER, Petitioner,
v.
Donald MANNING, Director Dade County Department of Corrections, Respondent.

No. 98-1737.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

July 22, 1998.
Rehearing Denied November 4, 1998.

Charles G. White, Miami, for petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Sandra S. Jaggard, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.

Before COPE, GODERICH and SORONDO, JJ.

COPE, Judge.

While released on bond on pending charges of armed robbery, petitioner-defendant Kevin Houser's bond was revoked for committing the new offense of carrying a concealed firearm. After a hearing, the trial court refused to set a new bond on the original charge of armed robbery. Defendant has petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. We find no error and deny the petition.

I.

In November 1997, defendant was charged with armed robbery with a firearm. At his Arthur[1] hearing, the trial judge concluded that defendant was entitled to bond.[2] Defendant was released on $15,000 bond and house arrest. The pretrial release conditions included the statutory condition that defendant not engage in any criminal activity, see § 903.047(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (1997), as well as *308 the condition that defendant "not use, possess, or carry a firearm, gun, weapon, or ammunition."

In June 1998, defendant was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm. Bond was set at $5000 for the new offense. Defendant makes no complaint about the bond for the new offense.

Defendant's bond on the original offense of armed robbery was revoked. As we view the petition, defendant concedes (or at least does not dispute) that he violated the above-mentioned bond conditions.

Defendant filed a motion to reinstate bond, arguing that he was entitled, as a matter of right, to have a new bond set on the original armed robbery charge. After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion, finding that no conditions of release will assure the safety of the community. See Fla. Const. art. I, § 14. Defendant has petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus.

It is a statutory condition of all pretrial release, whether on bond or otherwise, that "[t]he defendant refrain from criminal activity of any kind ...." § 903.047(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (1997). The nonstatutory condition that defendant "not use, possess, or carry a firearm, gun, weapon, or ammunition" is entirely lawful and reasonable.

The Fifth District has said:
[T]here are situations where Florida's constitutional right to be released on bail can be forfeited upon conduct that "evinces a flagrant disregard of the court's authority or effort to evade its processes." ... [I]t is constitutionally permissible to revoke for cause a reasonable bail already granted and to then deny subsequent applications....
... The constitution ... grants reasonable, not unbridled, release. Should a defendant violate a reasonable condition to bail, bail can be revoked. Having been provided reasonable bail only to violate a condition thereof, a defendant cannot claim he has been deprived of his constitutional right to bail should the trial court reasonably deny subsequent applications for bail.

Gardner v. Murphy, 402 So.2d 525, 526 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981) (citations omitted; emphasis added).

The rule in Gardner represents the prevailing American view. "The constitutional authority to arrest and detain a defendant who has violated the conditions of release cannot be doubted. Indeed, the very idea of a defendant's release being conditioned is meaningless without the power to rescind the release when the conditions are violated." ABA Standards for Criminal Justice 10-5.7 cmt., at 10-93 (2d ed.1986) (footnote omitted); see also id. Standards 10-1.3, 10-5.8; Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. Israel, Criminal Procedure § 12.4, at 613 (2d ed. 1992) ("[A] statute declaring that a felony defendant released on bail may have his bail revoked upon a showing he has committed another felony has been upheld. Indeed, it has been held that it is within the inherent power of a court to impose a release condition that the defendant not engage in further serious criminal conduct, and that revocation for violation of the condition is thus permissible even absent such a statutory provision."); 8A Am.Jur.2d Bail and Recognizance § 104, at 391 (1997) ("The power to enforce reasonable conditions of release is a necessary component of a trial court's jurisdiction over a criminal case."), and cases cited therein; State v. Ayala, 222 Conn. 331, 610 A.2d 1162, 1171-72 (1992) ("Revocation of the defendant's release did not encroach upon his constitutional right to be released on bail. The defendant's failure to abide by the conditions of his release resulted in a forfeiture of his right to release.... As one court noted, in effect, `the keys to continued freedom [were] left in the pocket of the accused.'") (footnote and citation omitted); State v. Holmes, 57 Ohio St.3d 11, 564 N.E.2d 1066, 1069 (1991) ("The breach of a condition of release provides an adequate basis to revoke the release."); 3A Charles A. Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure § 769, at 150 (1982) (provision in Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure authorizing revocation of bail was repealed, "but since the language had merely embodied the court's preexisting inherent power to enforce its own orders by revoking bail, the power to revoke at any time still exists. Thus any order releasing a person, *309 whether on bail or on other conditions, may be revoked or modified on a showing of sufficient reason for this action.") (footnotes omitted).

Defendant acknowledges that commission of a new crime is a basis for revocation of bond, but contends that any such revocation may only be temporary. Defendant argues that upon application to the court, the court was required to set a new bond on the original charge of armed robbery. We do not agree with defendant's analysis.

Once a defendant's bond has been properly revoked for a violation of a bond condition, the question whether to grant any further bond is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. See Gardner, 402 So.2d at 526. The situation is analogous to that in State v. Arthur, 390 So.2d 717 (Fla. 1980), where a defendant has been charged with a nonbondable offense, and the proof of guilt is evident or presumption great. In such a circumstance, the defendant "is not entitled to release on bail as a matter of right." Id. However, "the accused may still come forward with a showing addressed to the court's discretion to grant or deny bail." Id. at 719. Likewise, in the present case, defendant forfeited the right to bail by breaching the bond conditions, but he was still entitled to come forward with a request to be readmitted to bail in the court's discretion. The trial court's ruling on the defendant's request to be readmitted to bail is then reviewable for abuse of discretion.

Here, defendant was free on bond on the charge of armed robbery.

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Bluebook (online)
719 So. 2d 307, 1998 WL 406048, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houser-v-manning-fladistctapp-1998.