In Re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - 2023 Legislation

Supreme Court of Florida·Decided November 22, 2023·No. SC2023-1420·Published

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida

No. SC2023-1420

IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – 2023 LEGISLATION.

November 22, 2023

PER CURIAM.

In response to recent legislation, The Florida Bar’s Criminal

Procedure Rules Committee has filed a “fast-track” report proposing

amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.211

(Competence to Proceed: Scope of Examination and Report), 3.212

(Competence to Proceed: Hearing and Disposition), 3.704 (The

Criminal Punishment Code), and 3.992 (Criminal Punishment Code

Scoresheet). 1 The amendments reflect changes to sections 916.12,

916.13, 921.0024, and 775.0823, Florida Statutes, made by

1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; see also Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(e).

chapters 2023-190, §§ 1, 2, and 2023-270, §§ 3, 4, Laws of Florida,

which went into effect on July 1, 2023.

The Board of Governors of The Florida Bar unanimously

approved the Committee’s proposal. The Committee did not publish

its proposal before filing it with the Court. After considering the

Committee’s proposal and the relevant legislation, we amend the

Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure as proposed by the Committee,

with slight modification. The more significant revisions are

discussed below.

First, subdivisions (b) and (c) of rule 3.211 are amended with

language from the statutory changes to section 916.12(4)(b) and (c),

Florida Statutes. See ch. 2023-270, § 3, Laws of Fla. These

provisions require that a clinical assessment must be made to

ensure the safety of the patient and the community, list specific

possible treatment alternatives, and require the expert’s written

findings to include a full and detailed explanation regarding why

alternative treatment options are insufficient.

Next, new subdivision (c)(3)(E) is added to rule 3.212 to require

the court to find other services to be inappropriate before

committing a defendant for treatment. Additionally, new

subdivision (c)(5) is added requiring the expert’s report to ensure

alternative treatment options are fully considered and found

insufficient before issuing a commitment order. After adding new

subdivision (c)(5), the subsequent subdivisions are renumbered

accordingly. In renumbered subdivisions (c)(6) and (c)(6)(A), the

timeline for facility administrators to file their report is changed

from 6 months to 60 days. These amendments are consistent with

the recent updates to section 916.13, Florida Statutes. See ch.

2023-270, § 4, Laws of Fla.

We decline to adopt the grammatical changes to rule 3.704

recommended by the Committee as they were previously submitted

to the Court and will be considered in In re Amendments to Florida

Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.030 and 3.704, No. SC2023-0502.

Finally, references to the “Law Enforcement Protection Act” are

removed from rule 3.704(d)(20) and the “Law Enf. Protec.” heading

is removed from rule 3.992. In rule 3.992, the heading is replaced

with “Specified Justice System Personnel.” These changes are

consistent with recent amendments to sections 921.0024(1)(b) and

775.0823, Florida Statutes. See ch. 2023-190, §§ 1, 2, Laws of Fla.

Additionally, the Committee declined to propose amendments

to rule 3.780 (Sentencing Hearing for Capital Cases). However, we

amend rule 3.780(a) to generally state “[i]n capital sentencing

proceedings” rather than citing section 921.141.

Accordingly, the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure are

amended as reflected in the appendix to this opinion. New

language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are indicated by

struck-through type. The amendments shall become effective

immediately. Because the amendments were not published for

comment prior to their adoption, interested persons shall have

seventy-five days from the date of this opinion in which to file

comments with the Court. 2

2. All comments must be filed with the Court on or before February 5, 2024, with a certificate of service verifying that a copy has been served on the Committee Chair, Jason B. Blank, Haber Blank, LLP, 888 South Andrews Avenue, Suite 201, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316, jblank@haberblank.com, and on the Bar Staff Liaison to the Committee, Michael Hodges, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300, rules@floridabar.org, as well as a separate request for oral argument if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral argument, which may be scheduled in this case. The Committee Chair has until February 26, 2024, to file a response to any comments filed with the Court. If filed by an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal). If filed by a

It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.

Original Proceeding – Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

Jason B. Blank, Chair, Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Joshua E. Doyle, Executive Director, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, and Michael Hodges, Staff Liaison, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida,

for Petitioner

nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to practice in Florida, the comment may be, but is not required to be, filed via the Portal. Any person unable to submit a comment electronically must mail or hand-deliver the originally signed comment to the Florida Supreme Court, Office of the Clerk, 500 South Duval Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1927.

APPENDIX

RULE 3.211. COMPETENCE TO PROCEED:; SCOPE OF EXAMINATION AND REPORT

(a) Examination by Experts. UponOn appointment by the court, the experts shallmust examine the defendant with respect to the issue of competence to proceed, as specified by the court in its order appointing the experts to evaluate the defendant, and shallmust evaluate the defendant as ordered.

(1) The experts shallmust first consider factors related to the issue of whether the defendant meets the criteria for competence to proceed; that is, whether the defendant has sufficient present ability to consult with counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and whether the defendant has a rational, as well as factual, understanding of the pending proceedings.

(2) In considering the issue of competence to proceed, the examining experts shallmust consider and include in their report:

(A)-(B) [No Change]

(b) Factors to Be Evaluated. If the experts should find that the defendant is incompetent to proceed, the experts shallmust report on any recommended treatment for the defendant to attain competence to proceed. In considering the issues relating to treatment, the examining experts shallmust report on:

(1) [No Change]

(2) the completion of a clinical assessment by approved mental health experts trained by the department to ensure safety of the patient and the community;

(23) the treatment or treatments appropriate for the mental illness or intellectual disability of the defendant and an explanation of each of the possible treatment alternatives in order of choices, including, at a minimum, mental health services,

treatment services, rehabilitative services, support services, and case management services as described in s. 394.67, which may be provided by or within multi-disciplinary community treatment teams, such as Florida Assertive Community Treatment, conditional release programs, outpatient services or intensive outpatient treatment programs, and supportive employment and supportive housing opportunities in treating and supporting the recovery of the patient;

(34) the availability of acceptable treatment. If treatment is available in the community, the expert shallmust so state in the report; and

(45) the likelihood of the defendant attaining competence under the treatment recommended, an assessment of the probable duration of the treatment required to restore competence, and the probability that the defendant will attain competence to proceed in the foreseeable future.

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In Re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - 2023 Legislation, (Fla. 2023).

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