Opinion

Brown v. State

  • 36 So. 3d 186
  • 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 8241
  • 2010 WL 2330410
Court
District Court of Appeal of Florida
Filed
Jun 11, 2010
Status
Published
Author
Silberman
On the bench
Silberman, Altenbernd, Whatley
Cited by
3 cases
Authority
More cited than 59.0%

The opinion

ORDER DISMISSING APPEAL

SILBERMAN, Judge.

Frederick Wykme Brown appeals the circuit court’s order dismissing his motion

*187

for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure B.850. The circuit court found that all of Mr. Brown’s claims were facially insufficient for failure to specifically demonstrate how his counsel’s alleged deficiencies affected the outcome of the proceedings. The court therefore dismissed the motion without prejudice, noting that time remained under the two-year limitation of rule 3.850 for Mr. Brown to file a facially sufficient motion. Because the dismissal was without prejudice, the order is not a final order, and the circuit court appropriately did not admonish Mr. Brown to appeal within thirty days. Nevertheless, Mr. Brown did so.

We dismiss this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. However, we note that this court has expressed concern as to the practice of dismissing a postconviction motion for facial insufficiency without specifying a reasonable time limit within which to amend.

See Moreland v. State,

32 So.3d 782 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010) (highlighting “the procedural difficulties that can arise when a post-conviction court denies or dismisses a motion as facially insufficient without giving the movant at least one opportunity to amend within a specified amount of time”). Here, Mr. Brown’s two-year time limit under rule 3.850 will have expired by the time that this opinion issues. Therefore, this dismissal is without prejudice for Mr. Brown to file an amended motion in the circuit court within thirty days of the date on which this opinion becomes final.

ALTENBERND and WHATLEY, JJ., Concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.