In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - Corrected Opinion

CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 21, 2016
DocketSC14-1530
StatusPublished

This text of In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - Corrected Opinion (In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - Corrected Opinion) 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.

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In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure - Corrected Opinion, (Fla. 2016).

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida ____________

No. SC14-1530 ____________

IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

[October 29, 2015] CORRECTED OPINION

PER CURIAM.

This matter is before the Court for consideration of out-of-cycle

amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. See Fla. R. Jud. Admin.

2.140(e). We have jurisdiction1 and adopt the amendments as proposed.

The Criminal Procedure Rules Committee (Rules Committee) filed its report

proposing amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a)

(Correction, Reduction, and Modification of Sentences; Correction); 3.984

(Application for Criminal Indigent Status); 3.987 (Motion for Postconviction

Relief); and 3.993 (Forms Related to Capital Postconviction Records Production).

1. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. The Rules Committee also proposed new rule 3.9875 (Motion for Jail Credit). The

Florida Bar Board of Governors unanimously approved the amendments.

The majority of the proposals are in response to a request by the Court for

the Rules Committee, with input from the Supreme Court Criminal Court Steering

Committee (Steering Committee), to review the issue of successive rule 3.800(a)

motions and the postconviction procedure forms in light of the Court’s decision in

In re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure & Florida Rules of

Appellate Procedure, 132 So. 3d 734 (Fla. 2013). The Court specifically asked the

Rules Committee to propose a rule amendment to rule 3.800(a) restricting such

motions and propose corresponding amendments to the Florida Rules of Criminal

Procedure forms for use in postconviction proceedings.

The Rules Committee published its proposals prior to filing them with the

Court. The Rules Committee received one comment from the Steering Committee,

highlighting the differences between the Steering Committee’s recommendations

and the Rules Committee’s proposals as published. The Rules Committee did not

alter its proposals. The Court published the Rules Committee’s proposals for

comment and received four comments addressing the proposals to amend rules

3.800(a) and 3.987, and to adopt 3.9875. The Rules Committee filed a response to

the comments, agreeing in part and revising some of its proposals accordingly.

-2- Having considered the Rules Committee’s report, the comments, and the

Rules Committee’s responses to the comments, we amend Florida Rules of

Criminal Procedure 3.800, 3.984, 3.987, and 3.993 as proposed. We also adopt

new rule 3.9875 as proposed. We discuss the amendments to these rules below.2

Rule 3.800(a) (Correction, Reduction, and Modification of Sentences;

Correction) is divided into four new subdivisions, as follows: (a)(1) (Generally);

(a)(2) (Successive Motions); (a)(3) (Sexual Predator Designation); and (a)(4)

(Appeals). Subdivision (a)(2) (Successive Motions) is added to rule 3.800 and is

modeled after the successive motions provision in rule 3.850(h)(2) (Motion to

Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence; Successive Motions). Subdivision (a)(2)

creates a process for addressing successive motions and details the documents that

must accompany a court’s ruling dismissing a motion. Because illegal sentences

may be corrected at any time, the amendments to rule 3.800(a)(2) do not restrict

the time for filing such a motion. Subdivision (a)(4) (Appeals) adds the phrase “or

dismissing” to address the dismissal of successive motions. Finally, the Court

Commentary to rule 3.800 is amended by the Court to explain that with respect to

subdivision (a)(2), State v. McBride, 848 So. 2d 287 (Fla. 2003), still applies.

2. Minor, technical changes to the rules are not elaborated upon.

-3- Rule 3.984 (Application for Criminal Indigent Status) is amended to remove

the phrase “to the best of my knowledge” from the attestation clause at the end of

the form. This is consistent with case law that holds that the phrase renders an oath

insufficient. See, e.g., State v. Rodriguez, 523 So. 2d 1141, 1142 (Fla. 1988);

Scott v. State, 464 So. 2d 1171, 1172 (Fla. 1985).

Rule 3.987 (Motion for Postconviction Relief) is amended to conform the

form to the Court’s amendments to rule 3.850 (Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or

Correct Sentence) in In re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure &

Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, 132 So. 3d at 738. Instruction (1) in rule

3.987 is amended to require that the motion must be typewritten or legibly hand-

written in blue or black ink, with one inch margins, and on white 8 1/2 by 11 inch

paper, and shall not exceed fifty pages without leave of court upon a showing of

good cause. Instruction (1) no longer requires that the motion be signed by the

defendant and that the defendant use either the notarized or unnotarized oath at the

end of the form; instead, rule 3.987 includes a new oath, as well as a Certificate of

Mailing, a Certificate of Service, and a Certificate of an Accurate and Complete

Translation. Rule 3.987 includes a new instruction (6), which pertains to claims of

newly discovered evidence; a new instruction (7), which provides that the motion

must be submitted under oath and sets out what must be included in the oath; and

instruction (8), which was former instruction (6) and provides that when the

-4- motion is complete, it must be mailed to the clerk of the court of the county where

the sentence was imposed and adds the requirement “as stated in Florida Rule of

Appellate Procedure 9.420 [Filing; Service of Copies; Computation of Time].”

New rule 3.9875 (Motion for Jail Credit) is the “Model Form for Use in

Motions for Correction of Jail Credit Pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal

Procedure 3.801.” The form follows recently adopted rule 3.801 (Correction of

Jail Credit). See In re Amends. to Fla. Rules of Crim. Pro. & Fla. Rules of App.

Pro., 132 So. 3d at 737.

Lastly, rule 3.993 is amended to require e-mail addresses throughout the rule

to conform with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516 (Service of

Pleadings and Documents).

Accordingly, we amend the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure as reflected

in the appendix to this opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring;

deletions are indicated by struck-through type. The Court Commentary is offered

for explanation only and is not adopted as an official part of the rule. The

amendments shall take effect on January 1, 2016, at 12:01 a.m.

It is so ordered.

LABARGA, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, and PERRY, JJ., concur. CANADY, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, in which POLSTON, J., concurs.

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

-5- CANADY, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I dissent from the majority’s rejection of an additional change to new rule

3.800(a)(2) suggested by the Criminal Court Steering Committee. I would adopt

the Steering Committee’s suggestion that new rule 3.800(a)(2), which authorizes

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Related

State v. Rodriguez
523 So. 2d 1141 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1988)
Scott v. State
464 So. 2d 1171 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1985)
State v. McBride
848 So. 2d 287 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2003)

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