Shuman v. State

358 So. 2d 1333
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 25, 1978
Docket50675
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 358 So. 2d 1333 (Shuman v. State) 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
Shuman v. State, 358 So. 2d 1333 (Fla. 1978).

Opinion

358 So.2d 1333 (1978)

Arrie Lee SHUMAN, Neil Barnes, Deleon Scott, Jack Pierce, and Allan Hawkins, Petitioners,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 50675.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 23, 1978.
As Corrected May 25, 1978.

*1334 Louis G. Carres, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for petitioners.

Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen. and Susan E. Mole, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.

SUNDBERG, Justice.

This cause is before us on petition for writ of certiorari to review a decision of the District Court of Appeal, First District, reported at 339 So.2d 1176. The issue presented is whether costs for preparation of a transcript necessary for an indigent's appeal from a hearing officer's order of continued involuntary hospitalization, entered pursuant to Chapter 394, the Baker Act, should be taxed against the county in which the hearing was held or against the office of the public defender appointed to represent such indigent. The district court's decision affects a class of constitutional or state officers and, therefore, we have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution.

Petitioners were involuntarily committed to the Florida State Mental Hospital pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 394, Florida Statutes (1975), the Baker Act. When the hospital desired to continue petitioners' involuntary hospitalization beyond the initial six-month commitment authorized by Section 394.467(3), Florida Statutes (1975), each petitioner was granted a hearing before a hearing officer for the Department of Administration, as provided by Section 394.467(4)(a), Florida Statutes (1975). Petitioners were adjudged insolvent and, as provided by Section 394.467(4)(e), were represented by the public defender at their respective hearings. An order of commitment for continued involuntary hospitalization was entered as to each petitioner. Pursuant to the public defender's request, the hearing officer ordered a court reporter to transcribe the testimony taken at the hearings.

As provided by Section 394.457(6)(d), Florida Statutes (1975), appeals were taken to the Circuit Court for Gadsden County, Florida, raising the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence to warrant continued hospitalization. After the court reporter had transcribed the testimony taken at the *1335 hearings but before the appeals were heard, however, each petitioner was either released from Florida State Hospital or transferred to a voluntary status. Thereafter, petitioners voluntarily dismissed their appeals pursuant to Florida Appellate Rule 3.13b. The court reporter submitted a bill to the public defender's office, and petitioners filed motions to tax the costs of the transcripts against Gadsden County, the county in which petitioners were hospitalized and in which the appeals were filed. The circuit court refused to tax the costs against the county due to its inability to find authority in Chapter 394 to support such an order. The circuit court consolidated petitioners' cases for further appellate review. On appeal, the District Court of Appeal, First District, found no reversible error and, consequently, affirmed the circuit court's denial of petitioners' motion to tax costs. It is from that affirmance that petitioners have requested this Court to exercise its discretionary review.

Petitioners submit that as the right to appeal from an order requiring continued involuntary hospitalization is provided by law to all, this right cannot constitutionally be denied to those unable to pay the cost of the transcript necessary for review. To hold otherwise, it is maintained, would deny indigents equal access to the courts, due process and equal protection of the law, in violation of the Florida and the Federal Constitution. For the reasons hereinafter expressed, we accept petitioners' contention.

The deprivation of liberty which results from confinement under a state's involuntary commitment law has been termed a "massive curtailment of liberty." Humphrey v. Cady, 405 U.S. 504, 509, 92 S.Ct. 1048, 31 L.Ed.2d 394 (1972). Those whom the state seeks to involuntarily commit to a mental institution are entitled to the protection of our Constitutions, as are those incarcerated in our correctional institutions. Chief Justice Warren Burger elaborated upon this principle, concurring in O'Conner v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563, 580, 95 S.Ct. 2486, 2496, 45 L.Ed.2d 396 (1975):

There can be no doubt that involuntary commitment to a mental hospital, like involuntary confinement of an individual for any reason, is a deprivation of liberty which the State cannot accomplish without due process of law. Specht v. Patterson, 386 U.S. 605, 608, 87 S.Ct. 1209, 1211, 18 L.Ed.2d 326 (1967). Cf. In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 12-13, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 1435-1436, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967). Commitment must be justified on the basis of a legitimate state interest, and the reasons for committing a particular individual must be established in an appropriate proceeding.

A transcript of the hearing provided by Section 394.467(4)(a), Florida Statutes (1975), upon which an order requiring continued involuntary hospitalization is based, is necessary for meaningful appellate review. The indigent petitioners in the case sub judice have a right to an appellate record of these commitment proceedings, provided at public expense, under both the Florida and the Federal Constitution for the reason succinctly stated in Williams v. Oklahoma City, 395 U.S. 458, 459-460, 89 S.Ct. 1818, 1819, 23 L.Ed.2d 440 (1969):

"This Court has never held that the States are required to establish avenues of appellate review, but it is now fundamental that, once established, these avenues must be kept free of unreasoned distinctions that can only impede open and equal access to the courts. Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891; Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 83 S.Ct. 814, 9 L.Ed.2d 811; Lane v. Brown, 372 U.S. 477, 83 S.Ct. 768, 9 L.Ed.2d 892; Draper v. Washington, 372 U.S. 487, 83 S.Ct. 774, 9 L.Ed.2d 899." Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U.S. 305, 310-311, 86 S.Ct. 1497, 16 L.Ed.2d 577 (1966). Although the Oklahoma statutes expressly provide that "[a]n appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals may be taken by the defendant, as a matter of right from any judgment against him ...," the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals wholly denies any right of appeal to this impoverished petitioner, but grants that *1336 right only to appellants from like convictions able to pay for the preparation of a "case-made." This is an "unreasoned distinction" which the Fourteenth Amendment forbids the State to make. See Griffin v. Illinois [and] Draper v. Washington [supra]; Eskridge v. Washington State Board,

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