Palmer v. State

76 So. 3d 1016, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 19553, 2011 WL 6058277
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided December 7, 2011·No. No. 2D10-906·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

SILBERMAN, Chief Judge.

Willie Leroy Palmer seeks review of his judgment and sentence for resisting arrest with violence. Palmer was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and entered a negotiated guilty plea to the reduced charge while reserving the right to appeal the denial of two dispositive motions to dismiss. We affirm as to the denial of both motions but write to discuss why Palmer was not entitled to dismissal under the speedy trial rule.

The applicable speedy trial rule, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191(a), provides that a defendant must be brought to trial within 90 days of being arrested if he is charged with a misdemeanor and within 175 days of being arrested if he is charged with a felony. Following an incident on November 23, 2008, Palmer was arrested and subsequently charged with misdemeanor battery. The speedy trial period for the misdemeanor charge expired on February 21, 2009.

At that point, Palmer was entitled to enforce his speedy trial right by filing a notice of expiration of speedy trial. See State v. Pfeiffer, 872 So.2d 313, 314 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). The notice would trigger the recapture period under rule 3.191(p)(2).1 Id. However, Palmer did not seek to enforce his speedy trial rights by filing a notice of expiration.

[1018] The ease proceeded to arraignment on March 23, 2009, and the court set a trial date. Two days before trial was scheduled, defense counsel moved for a continuance. The trial court granted the motion, but the State nol prossed the misdemeanor charge before the rescheduled trial date.

On April 29, 2009, the State filed an information based on the November 2008 incident charging Palmer with battery on a law enforcement officer. Absent waiver or tolling of the time, the speedy trial period for this felony charge would have expired on May 17, 2009, which was 175 days after Palmer’s initial arrest on November 23, 2008.2 Palmer’s first notice of the felony charge was provided when he was arrested on the charge in October 2009. On November 3, 2009, Palmer was arraigned. He subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the felony battery charge based on the expiration of the speedy trial period under rule 3.191(a).

In his motion to dismiss, Palmer argued that he was entitled to immediate discharge because he was not brought to trial for the felony charge within the 175-day speedy trial period. The State argued that Palmer waived speedy trial by filing a motion to continue the misdemeanor charge.3 Palmer asserted that his motion for a continuance did not waive speedy trial in the misdemeanor case; rather, it was a nullity because the speedy trial period expired before he sought the continuance. The question before the trial court was whether Palmer effectively waived speedy trial for the felony charge by filing a motion to continue after the expiration of the speedy trial period for the misdemean- or charge.

The supreme court has recently answered this question in State v. Nelson, 26 So.3d 570 (Fla.2010). In Nelson, the juvenile defendant was arrested, and the State filed a petition for delinquency against him. Id. at 572. Shortly after the expiration of the juvenile speedy trial period, defense counsel requested and was granted a continuance. The adult felony speedy trial period then expired. A few days later, the State filed an information in felony court with new charges. The State subsequently nol prossed the juvenile charges but then filed a second felony information with the same charges that had been contained in the petition for delinquency. Id.

The defendant filed motions for discharge in both adult felony cases based upon the expiration of the speedy trial periods. The trial court denied the motions based on its determination that the defense continuance waived speedy trial. The defendant then filed petitions for writs of prohibition, and the Fourth District granted the petitions based on its determination that the continuance did not constitute a waiver of speedy trial because it was sought after the speedy trial time had expired. Id. The court held that the continuance was a nullity. The Fourth District certified the following question for review:

Does a motion for continuance made after the expiration of the speedy trial period but before a defendant files a [1019] notice of expiration under the rule, which activates the right of recapture period, waive a defendant’s speedy trial rights under the rule?

Id. at 571-72.

The supreme court answered the certified question in the affirmative. Id. at 572. The court explained that rule 3.191(a) is not self-executing but must be triggered by the defendant’s filing a notice of expiration of the speedy trial period. Id. at 574. “In other words, the recapture period illustrates the principle that a defendant has a right to speedy trial, not a right to speedy discharge without trial.” Id. at 576.

The court also noted that a defendant may waive speedy trial by requesting and being granted a continuance. Such a waiver is an ongoing waiver, and it applies to any newly filed charges that arise from the same incident. Id. While some courts have considered motions for continuances made after the expiration of speedy trial to be nullities instead of waivers, those eases were decided before the 1984 enactment of the rule amendment that provided for the recapture period. Id. at 577. Before this amendment, the court lost jurisdiction over a case once the speedy trial time period expired, and any motions filed thereafter were a nullity. However, with the enactment of the recapture period, the court generally did not automatically lose jurisdiction and the nullity concept was generally inapplicable. Id. at 578.

The supreme court noted that “[t]he nullity principle may or may not have continued life in circumstances where the State is not entitled to the recapture period.” Id. The court acknowledged that there were limited circumstances under which the State was precluded from exercising its recapture rights,4 but the court declined to address those circumstances because they were not present. Because the State was entitled to the recapture period, the court concluded that a postexpiration continuance operated as a waiver of the defendant’s speedy trial rights. Id. at 579. Any other outcome would “ignore the terms of the rule and the intent of the 1984 amendment to allow the State an opportunity to remedy a mistake through the recapture period.” Id. at 580.

The trial court in this case concluded that under Nelson, Palmer’s postexpiration continuance in the misdemeanor case operated as a waiver of his speedy trial rights that carried over to his newly filed felony charges because they arose from the same incident. Palmer argues that Nelson does not apply because (1) the speedy trial period and the fifteen-day recapture period had already expired when Palmer moved for a continuance and (2) the State was not entitled to the recapture period because it failed to notify Palmer of the refiled charges.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Palmer v. State, 76 So. 3d 1016, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 19553, 2011 WL 6058277 (Fla. Ct. App. 2011).

76 So. 3d 1016 (Palmer v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Fair
213 So. 3d 1098 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2017)
State v. Hettle
Nebraska Supreme Court, 2014