01-1424 RIAL V. STATE

State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 01-1424 RIAL V. STATE

Case Date: 12/18/2002

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JULY TERM, A.D. 2002

CHRISTINA RIAL, Appellant, vs.

** ** ** CASE NO. 3D01-1424 LOWER TRIBUNAL NO. 98-30011 98-23874

THE STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

** **

Opinion filed December 18, 2002. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County, David C. Miller, Judge. Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Valerie Jonas, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Richard E. Doran, Attorney General, and John D. Barker, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before JORGENSON, FLETCHER, and RAMIREZ, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Christina Rial appeals from an order of revocation of

probation and community control and sentence. reasons, we reverse.

For the following

Defendant entered into a plea agreement whereby she pled guilty to the charges brought against her in exchange for two years community control followed by ten years probation, with a special condition that she complete the Start program and then enter the Passageways program. Both the Start and Passageways

programs are non-secure mental health facilities. After completing the Start program, Defendant entered

Passageways. program.

Shortly thereafter, defendant asked to leave the

Defendant's community control officer told her that if

she left Passageways, she would be in violation of probation. Defendant absconded three weeks later, but returned after five days. After a hearing, the trial court found that defendant willfully violated her probation by absconding from Passageways and sentenced defendant to thirty years in prison. As the terms

of defendant's probation did not require that she complete the Passageways program, but only that she enter it, the trial court erred in finding that defendant violated her probation when she absconded from the program. See Carter v. State, 763 So. 2d

1091, (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (holding probation should not be revoked for failure to complete when a condition of probation does not require completion or have a time limit). Bingham v. State, 655 So. 2d 1186 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). See also Defendant

satisfied the conditions of her probation by completing the Start program and entering the Passageways. program upward Requiring constitutes modification that "an of

defendant

complete and

Passageways

unauthorized

impermissible

[defendant's] probation conditions." 674, 675 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994).

Bell v. State, 643 So. 2d

Accordingly, defendant's probation and community control should not have been revoked. Reversed.

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