Orange County v. Williams

702 So. 2d 1245, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 757, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1367, 1997 WL 561276
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedSeptember 11, 1997
Docket90143
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 702 So. 2d 1245 (Orange County v. Williams) 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.

Bluebook
Orange County v. Williams, 702 So. 2d 1245, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 757, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1367, 1997 WL 561276 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

702 So.2d 1245 (1997)

ORANGE COUNTY, etc., Appellant,
v.
Freddie Lee WILLIAMS, Appellee.

No. 90143.

Supreme Court of Florida.

September 11, 1997.
Rehearing Denied December 11, 1997.

*1246 George L. Dorsett, Assistant County Attorney, Orlando; and Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Kenneth S. Nunnelley, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Martin J. McClain, Chief Assistant CCR, and Sylvia W. Smith, Staff Attorney, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee; and Chandler R. Muller of the Law Offices of Chandler R. Muller, P.A., Winter Park, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Orange County appeals an order of the trial court requiring the County to pay the costs associated with Freddie Lee Williams' motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Williams is a prisoner under sentence of death. See Williams v. State, 437 So.2d 133 (Fla.1983) (affirming first-degree murder conviction and sentence of death), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 909, 104 S.Ct. 1690, 80 L.Ed.2d 164 (1984). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution. For the reasons discussed below, we vacate the trial court order.

Williams has been represented by volunteer collateral counsel Chandler R. Muller since 1986.[1] Muller represented Williams when he sought a writ of habeas corpus from this Court in 1987. See Williams v. Wainwright, 503 So.2d 890 (Fla.) (denying habeas petition), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 873, 108 S.Ct. 211, 98 L.Ed.2d 163 (1987). Muller also represented Williams in his rule 3.850 motion filed with the trial court. On March 7, 1996, the court granted Williams an evidentiary hearing as to three claims involving ineffective assistance of trial counsel relating to the preparation for and handling of the penalty phase proceedings. In April 1996, Williams filed a motion for costs in order to obtain investigative assistance and expert witnesses and for other litigation expenses related to the hearing. The motion outlined the following facts. At the time Muller undertook collateral representation in 1986, he was a senior partner in a law firm that provided staff support to him. Muller has subsequently opened his own law office and practices with just one associate and no longer has the same time and financial resources available to him. Muller also lost the support of the Volunteer Lawyers Resource Center which closed in March 1996 after losing its U.S. Government funding. Additionally, at the time the motion for costs was filed, the Office of Capital Collateral Representative (CCR) had informed this Court that it was unable to take on new cases due to an overwhelming caseload.

After considering the motion, the arguments of counsel, and the record in the case, Circuit Judge Michael F. Cycmanick entered an order granting Williams' motion for costs. *1247 The court ruled that CCR was not obligated to absorb the costs because Williams was represented by private volunteer counsel. The court further found the costs proposed by Williams to be "necessary to afford the Defendant due process at an evidentiary hearing and to permit this Court to address this complex postconviction claim." Citing section 43.28, Florida Statutes (1995),[2] and Brevard County v. Moxley, 526 So.2d 1023 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988),[3] the circuit court concluded that Orange County was responsible for paying these costs. Orange County appealed the order to the Fifth District Court of Appeal, which transferred the appeal to this Court based upon our plenary jurisdiction over death penalty cases. See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

The issue presented is who is responsible for the costs incurred by a lawyer providing pro bono representation to a death-sentenced person in a postconviction proceeding when CCR was not counsel and the pro bono counsel was not acting as substitute counsel or court-appointed counsel due to a conflict of interest as provided in section 27.703, Florida Statutes (1995).[4]

Counties are obligated by statute to pay for attorney fees and costs for indigent defendants, both at trial and on appeal. See, e.g., §§ 914.11 (county must pay costs associated with procuring attendance of witnesses for indigent defendant); 925.035(6) (county must compensate appointed attorney and pay all costs associated with trial, appeal, second trial, and application for executive clemency for indigent capital defendant); 925.036 (specifies the amount of compensation for representation by counsel appointed under section 925.035; only specifies fees for various offenses at the trial level and on appeal); 939.07 (county must pay legal expenses and costs for indigent defendant in all criminal cases prosecuted in name of state), Fla. Stat. (1995). There are no statutory provisions that impose an obligation on the counties to pay the costs of collateral litigation. In the order granting Williams' motion for costs, the court cited section 43.28 as imposing that responsibility on the County. Presumably, the judge relied upon the portion of the statute that requires the counties to provide "the personnel necessary to operate the circuit and county courts." However, the phrase "unless provided by the state," which immediately precedes the necessary personnel language, mandates a different result in this case.

In chapter 27, the legislature created CCR to provide collateral representation to persons convicted and sentenced to death. The legislative intent originally was to provide collateral representation for death-sentenced individuals who were "unable to secure counsel due to indigency." § 27.7001, Fla. Stat. (1995). The legislature recently amended this provision to express the intent that collateral representation be provided to "any person convicted and sentenced to death in this state." § 27.7001, Fla. Stat. (Supp.1996) (emphasis added). The duties of CCR include representing such individuals "for the purpose of instituting and prosecuting collateral *1248 actions challenging the legality of the judgment and sentence imposed against such person[s]" in state and federal courts. § 27.702, Fla. Stat. (1995 & Supp.1996). Under either the original version of the statute (which was in effect when Williams' counsel volunteered his services for collateral representation in 1986) or the current statute, Williams was eligible for representation by CCR: he has been sentenced to death and was previously adjudged indigent for purposes of obtaining trial counsel, and his financial situation has not changed as he has been incarcerated since his conviction in 1981.

In our recent opinion in Hoffman v. Haddock, 695 So.2d 682 (Fla.1997), we stated that "chapter 27 expressly directs that CCR is to provide for the collateral representation of any person convicted and sentenced to death in this state and is to be responsible for the payment of all necessary costs and expenses." Id. at 684. Hoffman involved a death-sentenced individual who was and had been represented by CCR. The fact that Williams is represented by volunteer counsel, not CCR, does not change the outcome here. Given the specific directives contained in chapter 27, the County cannot be compelled to pay the costs here. See Hoffman, 695 So.2d at 684. Thus, we vacate the trial court's order in this case.

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Bluebook (online)
702 So. 2d 1245, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 757, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1367, 1997 WL 561276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orange-county-v-williams-fla-1997.