07-3851 ANTHONY M. WALKER v. WALTER A. MCNEIL, SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

State: Florida

Court: Florida First District Court

Docket No: 07-3851

Case Date: 09/15/2008

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA ANTHONY M. WALKER, Appellant, v. WALTER A. McNEIL, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Appellee. ____________________________/ Opinion filed September 15, 2008. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Leon County. Thomas H. Bateman, III, Judge. Anthony M. Walker, pro se, Appellant. Kathleen Von Hoene, General Counsel, Florida Department of Corrections, Tallahassee; Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Sherry Anita Toothman, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED. CASE NO. 1D07-3851

PER CURIAM. Appellant filed a joint "Omnibus Petition for Extraordinary Relief from Findings of Guilt in Prison Disciplinary Proceedings and Petition for Writ of Certiorari" after exhausting his available administrative remedies with the Department

of Corrections. The trial court found it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the petition as untimely, finding that more than 30 days had passed from the date that the Department filed its final denial of Appellant's administrative appeal. Because Appellant's petition contained a certificate of service stating that the petition was handed to prison officials for mailing on a date within the 30-day window of appeal, we reverse the trial court's order dismissing Appellant's petition. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.420(a)(2) ("A document filed by a pro se inmate confined in an institution is timely filed if the inmate places the document in the hands of an institution official for mailing on or before the last day for filing. Such a document shall be presumed to be timely filed if it contains a certificate of service certifying that the inmate placed the document in the hands of an institution official for mailing on a particular date, and if the document would have been timely filed had it been received and file-stamped by the court on that date."); see also Ortiz v. Moore, 776 So. 2d 333 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). REVERSED and REMANDED. WEBSTER, VAN NORTWICK, and THOMAS, JJ., CONCUR.

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