02-0926 WILLIAMS V. SPEARS

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 02-0926 WILLIAMS V. SPEARS

Case Date: 04/17/2002

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JANUARY TERM, A.D. 2002

MARION WILLIAMS, Petitioner, vs. LOIS SPEARS, Director, Dade County Department of Corrections and The State of Florida, Respondents.

** ** ** ** ** ** LOWER TRIBUNAL NO. 99-3676 CASE NO. 3D02-926

** Opinion filed April 17, 2002. A Case of Original Jurisdiction - Habeas Corpus. Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Andrew Stanton, Assistant Public Defender, for petitioner. Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Douglas J. Glaid, Assistant Attorney General, for respondents. Before COPE, SHEVIN and SORONDO, JJ. COPE, J. The question presented is whether section 903.0471, Florida Statutes (2001) is constitutional. We conclude that it is, and

deny the petition for writ of habeas corpus.

I. In September 2001, defendant-petitioner Marion Williams was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to sell it ("the first case"). The arrest affidavit indicates that police officers observed the defendant engaged in a hand-to-hand drug transaction. The arresting officers recovered twenty-one crack cocaine rocks. Defendant was released to pretrial services in lieu of bond. In January of 2002, defendant was arrested after he sold an undercover officer a rock of crack cocaine ("the second case"). Bond was set for $7,500 in the second case.1 In the first case, the defendant's pretrial release was revoked because the defendant had committed a new crime and thus breached a condition of the pretrial release. The defendant filed a motion to reinstate bond. He argued

that section 903.0471, Florida Statutes (2001), violated the pretrial release provision of the Florida Constitution and the due process clauses of the Florida and Federal Constitutions. The trial court ruled that section 903.0471, Florida Statutes, is constitutional and declined to reinstate bail for the defendant.

1

For simplicity we refer to the September 2001 and January 2002 arrests as the first case and the second case. In reality, the defendant was also arrested in December 2001, and the pretrial release in the first case was revoked because of the December case. Soon thereafter, the State announced a no action on the December case and the court reinstated the defendant's pretrial release on the first case. The December case is not pertinent to the issue now before us. 2

The defendant has petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus.

We

concur with Judge Lopez that the statute is constitutional, and deny the defendant's petition. II. It is a statutory condition of pretrial release that "[t]he defendant refrain from criminal activity of any kind . . . ." Id. 903.047(1)(a). In 2000, the Florida legislature enacted section 903.0471, Florida Statutes, which provides: 903.0471 Violation of condition of pretrial release. Notwithstanding s. 907.041, a court may, on its own motion, revoke pretrial release and order pretrial detention if the court finds probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a new crime while on pretrial release. Id. (enacted by ch. 2000-178,

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