U'Dreka Andrews v. State of Florida

218 So. 3d 466, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 6131
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 2, 2017
Docket16-0733
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 218 So. 3d 466 (U'Dreka Andrews v. State of Florida) 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
U'Dreka Andrews v. State of Florida, 218 So. 3d 466, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 6131 (Fla. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

LEWIS, J.

Petitioner, U’Dreka Andrews, petitions this Gourt for certiorari review of the trial court’s order denying her “Motion for Leave to Submit Requests for Appointment of Experts and Costs Ex Parte and Under Seal and to Require the Justice Administrative Commission to File Any Responses to Such Motions Without Service to the State and Under Seal Where Such Responses Contain Substantive Information Pertaining to Ms. Andrews’ Defense.” We deny the petition because Petitioner failed to establish that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of the law. In light of the important policy issue, however, we certify a question of great public importance.

In her motion, Petitioner alleged that she was convicted of first-degree felony murder, burglary, and robbery based on offenses she committed at the age of seventeen and she was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder. The Florida Supreme Court recently held that Petitioner is entitled to resentencing in conformance with Chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida, the [468]*468relevant provisions of which have been codified in sections 775.082, 921.1401, and 921.1402, Florida Statutes (2014). Petitioner has been found indigent and is represented by private counsel pro bono in the Miller1 resentencing proceeding.' In order to avoid revealing privileged information or work product to the State Attorney’s Office, Petitioner requested permission to file all her motions for appointed experts and miscellaneous costs ex parte and under seal, with service to the Justice Administrative Commission (“JAC”) and notice to the. State Attorney’s Office, and requested that the JAC be required to file all responses that may reveal substantive content relevant to her defense without service to the State and under seal. Petitioner also relied on the rights to effective assistance of counsel, due process, and equal protection, and she argued that she should not be prejudiced because she is represented by pro bono counsel and is indigent for costs and is entitled to the same due process and equal protection rights as similarly-situated defendants who are represented by private counsel or the Public Defender’s Office and would not be required to divulge details to the prosecution regarding the hiring of experts. Following a hearing, the trial court entered an order denying Petitioner’s motion. This petition for writ of certiorari followed.

To obtain a writ of certiorari, a petitioner must show that the challenged order constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of law, which results iii’material injury that cannot be'remedied on appeal. Suarez v. Steward Enters., 164 So.3d 132, 134 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015). “[C]er-tiorari relief is an ‘extremely rare’ remedy that will 'be provided in ‘very few cases.’ ” Bd. of Trs. of Internal Improvement Tr. Fund v. Am. Educ. Enters., LLC, 99 So.3d 460, 455 (Fla. 2012) (quoting Martin-Johnson, Inc, v. Savage, 509 So.2d 1097 (Fla. 1987)). A ruling departs from the essential requirements of the law when it constitutes a violation of a clearly established principle of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice. State, Dep’t of Revenue ex rel. Carnley v. Lynch, 53 So.3d 1154, 1156 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). Clearly established law may derive from controlling case law, rules of court, statutes, or constitutional law. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Kaklamanos, 843 So.2d 885, 890 (Fla. 2003). “[Cjertiorari jurisdiction cannot be used to create new law where the decision below recognizes the correct general law and applies the correct law to a new set of facts to which it has not been previously applied.” Nader v. Fla. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 87 So.3d 712, 723 (Fla. 2012).

Petitioner asserts that authority for the procedure she seeks is found in' Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420, which governs “public access to and protection of judicial branch records” and provides in part that “[t]he following records of the judicial branch shall be confidential:”

[c] (9) Any court record determined to be confidential in case decision or court rule on the grounds that
(A) confidentiality is required to
(i) prevent a serious and imminent threat to the fair, impartial, and orderly administration of justice;
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(vii) comply with established public policy set forth in the Florida or United States Constitution or statutes or Florida rules or case law[.]

Petitioner argues that the denial of her petition will result in the violation of her rights to due process, fundamental fairness, equal protection, and effective assis[469]*469tance of counsel under the United States and Florida Constitutions, as well as the attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine. Petitioner primarily relies on Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 106 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 68 (1985), and State v. Hamilton, 448 So.2d 1007 (Fla. 1984), in support of her position. However, in Ake, the United States Supreme Court held:

[W]hen a defendant demonstrates to the trial judge that his sanity at the time of the offense is to be a significant factor at trial, the State must, at a minimum, assure the defendant access to a competent psychiatrist who will conduct an appropriate examination and assist in evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense.

470 U.S. at 74, 83, 106 S.Ct. 1087. The Court reasoned in part:

[The State] must take steps to assure that the defendant has a fair opportunity to present his defense. This elementary principle, grounded in significant part on the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process guarantee of fundamental fairness, derives from the belief that justice cannot be equal where, simply as a result of his poverty, a defendant is denied the opportunity to participate meaningfully in a judicial proceeding in which his liberty is at stake.

Id. at 76, 105 S.Ct. 1087. The Court further held that' because the State relied on the aggravating, factor. of future dangerousness at the appellant’s capital sentencing, he was entitled to the assistance of a psychiatrist on that issue and the denial of that assistance deprived him of due process. Id. at 86-87, 105 S.Ct. 1087.

In Hamilton, the Florida Supreme Court was faced with the following certified question:

When an appointed counsel informs the court, as provided in Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.216(a), that he has reason to believe his indigent client is incompetent to stand trial or was insane at the time of the offense, does the trial court have any discretion as to any matter of law or fact the determination of which would entitle the State to be given notice and an opportunity to be heard before the court appoints an expert to examine the accused and to assist his appointed counsel?

448 So.2d at 1008. The Court answered the question in the negative upon “finding that any inquiry of defense counsel by the court as to the basis for counsel’s request for appointment of an expert would improperly invade the attorney-client confidential relationship.” Id.

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Related

NIKOLAS CRUZ v. STATE OF FLORIDA
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019
U'dreka Andrews v. State of Florida
243 So. 3d 899 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2018)
Monroe v. State
225 So. 3d 329 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2017)

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Bluebook (online)
218 So. 3d 466, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 6131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/udreka-andrews-v-state-of-florida-fladistctapp-2017.