Matthew Pirie v. State

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: September 24, 2018
• Docket: 5D18-730
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

MATTHEW PIRIE,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D18-730

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

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Opinion filed September 28, 2018

3.850 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Citrus County, Richard A. Howard, Judge.

Terrence E. Kehoe, of Law Office of Terrence E. Kehoe, Orlando, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Douglas T. Squire, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Matthew Pirie appeals the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal

Procedure 3.850 motion for postconviction relief. While the court properly determined

that Pirie’s motion was facially insufficient, it should have given him at least one

opportunity to amend. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850(f)(2) (“If the motion is insufficient on its

face, and the motion is timely filed under this rule, the court shall enter a nonfinal, nonappealable order allowing the defendant 60 days to amend the motion.”); Spera v.

State, 971 So. 2d 754, 761-62 (Fla. 2007) (holding that trial court must give defendant

one opportunity to amend facially deficient claims).

Accordingly, we reverse the summary denial and remand with directions that the

court strike Pirie’s motion and grant him sixty days to file an amended motion if he can do

so in good faith.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

ORFINGER, EVANDER and HARRIS, JJ., concur.