Scott v. State

909 So. 2d 364, 2005 WL 1787446
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided July 29, 2005·No. 5D04-2570·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

909 So.2d 364 (2005)

Kenneth SCOTT, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D04-2570.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

July 29, 2005.
Rehearing Denied September 2, 2005.

*365 James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Brynn Newton, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Mary G. Jolley, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

SHARP, W., J.

Kenneth Scott appeals from the revocation of his probation and sentence of five years in prison for battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.[1] On appeal, Scott argues it was error for a judge other than the judge who accepted his plea to the original charges to have presided over the probation violation proceeding. Scott also argues the judge who presided over the probation violation proceeding should have granted his motion to disqualify her. We find no merit to either argument and affirm.

In October 2003, Judge John Griesbaum accepted Scott's no contest pleas to the above offenses, adjudicated him guilty and placed him on five years drug offender probation. In January 2004, Judge Griesbaum modified Scott's probation by converting all drug testing fees, court costs and fines to a civil lien.

In February 2004, Scott's probation officer filed an affidavit alleging Scott had violated his probation by consuming alcohol in January 2004 and by being arrested for tampering with a state witness and resisting arrest without violence in February 2004. According to the arrest report, Scott was attempting to scare the victim from testifying in a Department of Children and Families case. The victim had to be compelled to testify by Judge Lisa Davidson under threat of contempt.

When advised of the charges against him, Scott became irritated and pulled away from the deputies. Scott was placed under control by the deputies and escorted to booking where he remained belligerent. Judge Griesbaum later issued a warrant for Scott's arrest based only on the consumption of alcohol allegation.

*366 In May 2004, Scott appeared before Judge Davidson on the violation of probation charge. Defense counsel told Judge Davidson that Scott was going to admit violating his probation by using alcohol pursuant to a plea agreement with the state. The plea agreement provided that Scott would receive concurrent sentences of 15.15 months in prison with no probation to follow. Judge Davidson took the matter under advisement and continued the hearing.

A few days later, Scott filed a motion to disqualify Judge Davidson. Scott alleged Judge Davidson was also presiding over a dependency proceeding involving his infant son. Scott believed the Department wanted to keep the child away from him and the child's mother and was seeking to have his parental rights terminated. Scott admitted he had become frustrated by being separated from his son and said some rude things to Judge Davidson and scuffled with the deputy in her dependency court.

When he arrived for his probation violation hearing, Scott did not see Judge Davidson's courtroom deputy with whom he had scuffled. He discussed with his attorney the possibility of asking Judge Davidson to disqualify herself but decided she could be fair and did not ask for disqualification.

However, when defense counsel told Judge Davidson that Scott had reached a plea agreement with the state, she was hesitant to accept it even though she typically accepts negotiated pleas. Judge Davidson then announced she was continuing the case but would not give a reason for doing so. In his motion Scott alleged he believed that Judge Davidson is biased against him, as a result of presiding over the dependency case, and wants to give him a long prison sentence in the probation violation case to impair his ability to regain custody of his son.

Judge Davidson denied the motion for disqualification and continued to preside over the probation violation case. At the violation hearing, Scott's probation officer testified that Scott appeared to be intoxicated, was taken by police to the hospital and was later Baker Acted in January 2004. His blood alcohol level was .24, which is a level higher than toxic.

A police officer testified he responded to a call that Scott was bothering his neighbors. Scott smelled of alcohol. The officer gave him a trespass warning and Scott left on his bicycle for his AA meeting.

About an hour later, the officer stopped on the side of the road where Scott apparently fell off his bicycle. Scott had an even stronger odor of alcohol about him and was belligerent and agitated. Scott said the men who had flagged down the police for help had beaten him; he later accused the police officers at the scene of beating him. The officer called for an ambulance to take Scott to the hospital.

Scott testified a neighbor gave him homemade apple cider and he drank several glasses. He got on his bicycle to go to a meeting but got sick and fell off the bicycle. The next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital. The hospital told him he had "poisoning" in his blood. Scott later realized it was the cider. Scott claimed he did not drink any alcohol that day, did not have any contact with the police officer and did not have any arguments with neighbors.

Judge Davidson found that Scott had violated his probation by using intoxicants. Scott was given an opportunity to speak in mitigation and claimed he had been "railroaded" and has committed no crime.[2]

*367 Judge Davidson revoked Scott's probation and sentenced him to concurrent terms of five years in prison. Scott responded: "You know something, you are very dishonest, you know that? You got hell to pay, woman." Judge Davidson then added 6 points to Scott's score with no objection by defense counsel.

While his appeal was pending from his probation revocation, Scott filed a motion to correct sentencing error pursuant to rule 3.800(b)(2). Scott alleged the necessity for substituting Judge Davidson for Judge Griesbaum had not been demonstrated in the record, as required by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.700(c). Scott requested that his sentence be corrected by providing reasons why the substitution of a successor judge was necessary, providing reasons why the rule does not apply, or rescheduling the cause for a rehearing before Judge Griesbaum.

Judge Davidson denied Scott's request for a rehearing before Judge Griesbaum. Judge Davidson pointed out that in March 2004, Judge Griesbaum had rotated onto the dependency bench and took over her dependency docket. She in turn rotated onto the criminal bench and took over Judge Griesbaum's criminal docket. Judge Davidson also noted she had heard the testimony and reviewed the evidence at the probation hearing and had thoroughly acquainted herself with the facts of the case. Judge Davidson concluded she was more familiar with the case as she had presided over the revocation hearing and was in the best position to sentence Scott on the violation of probation.

I. JUDICIAL DISQUALIFICATION

Scott contends his motion to disqualify Judge Davidson recited a sufficient basis for his fear that he would not receive a fair hearing — Judge Davidson has been presiding over his child dependency proceedings which he believed sought to terminate his parental rights, he had become frustrated at a dependency hearing and scuffled with Judge Davidson's courtroom deputy and Judge Davidson had refused to accept the plea agreemen

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Scott v. State, 909 So. 2d 364, 2005 WL 1787446 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

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