State v. Brady

985 So. 2d 656, 2008 WL 2554401
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 27, 2008
Docket2D07-4660
StatusPublished

This text of 985 So. 2d 656 (State v. Brady) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Brady, 985 So. 2d 656, 2008 WL 2554401 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

985 So.2d 656 (2008)

STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Bernard BRADY, Respondent.

No. 2D07-4660.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

June 27, 2008.

*657 Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Robert J. Krauss, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Petitioner.

Wm. Newt Hudson, Tarpon Springs, for Respondent.

WALLACE, Judge.

The State petitions this court for a writ of certiorari to quash an order of the circuit court acting in its appellate capacity. The circuit court order upheld the Pasco County Court's dismissal on speedy trial grounds of a driving-under-the-influence (DUI) charge. Because the circuit court failed to apply the correct law concerning the effect of a waiver of speedy trial, we grant the petition and quash the circuit court's order.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Prior Appeal

This is the second appearance of this case before this court. In Brady v. State (Brady I), 934 So.2d 659 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006), Bernard Brady petitioned this court for a writ of prohibition based on his claim of a violation of his right to a speedy trial under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191. On March 24, 2006, we granted the petition by an unpublished order. We subsequently issued the opinion in Brady I to explain our earlier ruling.

In Brady I, we recited the pertinent facts as follows:

On October 8, 2005, Brady was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) and for possession of a controlled substance. Upon his arrest, Brady was issued a uniform traffic citation for the DUI offense. The ninety-day speedy trial period for bringing Brady to trial on the misdemeanor DUI charge expired on January 6, 2006. Six days later, the State filed a two-count information in the Pasco County Circuit Court charging Brady with possession of a controlled substance, to-wit: carisoprodol, a third-degree felony (count one), and DUI, a first-degree misdemeanor (count two). Brady moved to dismiss count two of the information filed in the circuit court. On February 6, 2006, the circuit court orally denied Brady's motion.

Id. at 661. The State filed the information in the circuit court more than ninety days after Mr. Brady's arrest.

Based on these facts, Mr. Brady argued in Brady I "that the information was untimely filed with regard to the misdemeanor DUI charge and that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over count two of the information." Id. We agreed with Mr. Brady, and we granted his petition. In *658 explaining our decision, we said, in pertinent part:

In this case, the State filed the two-count information in the circuit court after the expiration of the misdemeanor speedy trial time period. Furthermore, the county court is not automatically divested of jurisdiction when "misdemeanor and felony charges arising out of the same circumstances have been filed in both county and circuit courts." State v. Coble, 704 So.2d 197, 199 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). "Rather, a motion to consolidate by either party is required to divest the county court of jurisdiction." Id. at 199-200 (citing State v. Woodruff, 676 So.2d 975, 977 n. 2 (Fla.1996) (stating that consolidation may be accomplished upon timely motion of a party)). Here, neither the State nor the defense filed a motion to consolidate the two cases prior to the expiration of the ninety-day speedy trial time period. Thus the county court was never divested of jurisdiction over the misdemeanor DUI charge, and the circuit court never properly obtained jurisdiction over that charge.

Id. at 662. Based on this analysis, we prohibited the circuit court from exercising further jurisdiction over Mr. Brady on count two (the DUI charge) of the information filed in the circuit court. Id. However, we specifically noted that our decision had no effect on the pending county court case.[1]

B. The Subsequent Proceedings in the County Court

While Mr. Brady's petition for a writ of prohibition to the circuit court was pending in this court, he filed a motion for discharge on speedy trial grounds in the county court. After our written opinion issued, the Pasco County Court held a hearing on Mr. Brady's motion and granted it. The county court's order provided that Mr. Brady "is hereby forever discharged from the alleged misdemeanor offense of driving under the influence."

The county court did not make any findings of fact or conclusions of law in either its oral ruling or in its written order. However, in announcing his ruling, the county judge is reported to have made a statement that appears to have been an attempt to quote from this court's opinion in Brady I:

THE COURT: ["]The county court was never the best jurisdiction over the misdemeanor DUI charge and the circuit court never properly obtained jurisdiction over that charge.["] Okay. I'm going to grant the motion to discharge.

(Emphasis added.) We doubt that the county judge actually made this statement in the form attributed to him. Instead, we are inclined to believe that the substitution of the words "the best" for "divested of" in the quoted material is the result of a transcription error. No matter how this error occurred, there is no doubt that the statement misquotes this court's opinion and misstates our holding in Brady I:

Thus the county court was never divested of jurisdiction over the misdemeanor DUI charge, and the circuit court never obtained jurisdiction over that charge.

Id. (emphasis added).

C. The Circuit Court's Opinion

Whatever the explanation for the misquotation from Brady I in the transcript of the hearing held in the county court, the circuit court's written opinion affirming the order discharging Mr. Brady quotes without comment the lower tribunal's purported conclusion that "the county court was never the best jurisdiction over the misdemeanor *659 DUI charge." (Emphasis added.) The circuit court's uncritical repetition of the apparent transcription error in the record of the county court proceedings indicates that the circuit court misinterpreted our holding in Brady I. In addition to misinterpreting Brady I, the circuit court's opinion never addressed the State's only argument on appeal from the county court to the circuit court: that Mr. Brady had waived his right to a speedy trial on the DUI charge in the county court.

II. AN OVERVIEW

The question of whether Mr. Brady waived his right to a speedy trial on the DUI charge in the county court is at the heart of this case. The State contends that Mr. Brady waived his right to a speedy trial on the misdemeanor DUI charge in the county court at one of the hearings held prior to the issuance of our opinion in Brady I. To discuss this question, we must first review the events that occurred at the hearings held in the circuit court on January 27 and February 6, 2006, prior to the issuance of our opinion in Brady I. Next, we will review the proceedings at the post-Brady I hearing which resulted in the dismissal of the DUI charge in the county court. This review of the proceedings in the circuit court and in the county court will provide the foundation necessary for our discussion of the speedy trial issue. However, before proceeding to a review of the events at these hearings and a discussion of the question of waiver, we will note our standard of review.

III. THE STANDARD OF REVIEW

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

Related

State v. Wilson
690 So. 2d 1361 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)
Haines City Community Dev. v. Heggs
658 So. 2d 523 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1995)
State v. Stanzione
315 So. 2d 500 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)
State Ex Rel. Sheppard v. Duval
287 So. 2d 370 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1973)
Alvarez v. State
791 So. 2d 574 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2001)
Allstate Ins. Co. v. Kaklamanos
843 So. 2d 885 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2003)
State v. Gilliam
884 So. 2d 128 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2004)
State v. McCullers
932 So. 2d 373 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
State v. Woodruff
676 So. 2d 975 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1996)
Ivey v. Allstate Ins. Co.
774 So. 2d 679 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2000)
Combs v. State
436 So. 2d 93 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1983)
State v. Coble
704 So. 2d 197 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
Ivory v. State
588 So. 2d 1007 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1991)
State v. Earnest
265 So. 2d 397 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1972)
State v. Naveira
873 So. 2d 300 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2004)
Hurley v. State
322 So. 2d 506 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1975)
Housing Auth. of City of Tampa v. Burton
874 So. 2d 6 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2004)
Brady v. State
934 So. 2d 659 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
Corbitt v. State
985 So. 2d 656 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
985 So. 2d 656, 2008 WL 2554401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brady-fladistctapp-2008.