WILSON RIVERA v. STATE OF FLORIDA

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: March 23, 2022
• Docket: 21-2176
• Status: Published

Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

WILSON RIVERA, Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 4D21-2176

[March 23, 2022]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Martin S. Fein, Judge; L.T. Case No. 96-018648CF10A.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Paul Edward Petillo, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Jeanine M. Germanowicz, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

CONFESSION OF ERROR

PER CURIAM.

On appeal, appellant argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to withdraw a plea because the trial judge did not properly address appellant’s competency. Based on the State’s proper confession of error, we agree. First, appellant preserved the issue for appellate review. See State v. Dortch, 317 So. 3d 1074 (Fla. 2021). Second, we agree that the trial court erred by moving forward with trial when there were legitimate doubts regarding appellant’s competency. See Finkelstein v. State, 574 So. 2d 1164, 1169 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991); Pacheco v. State, 114 So. 3d 1107, 1108 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013). Therefore, we reverse the trial court’s order denying the motion to vacate the plea and remand for further proceedings on the issue of competency. See Manchin v. State, 267 So. 3d 1098 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019).

Reversed and remanded with instructions.

CIKLIN, GERBER, and KLINGENSMITH, JJ., concur. * * *

Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.