04-2266 STATE V. RIERA

State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 04-2266 STATE V. RIERA

Case Date: 12/22/2004

Preview:NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DISPOSED OF. IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JULY TERM A.D., 2004 THE STATE OF FLORIDA, Petitioner, vs. TOMAS A. RIERA, Respondent. ** ** ** ** ** ** Opinion filed December 22, 2004. A Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Pedro P. Echarte, Jr., C. David Miller, and Kevin Emas, Judges. Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, and Meredith L. Balo, Assistant Attorney General, for petitioner. Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Thomas Regnier, Assistant Public Defender, for respondent. Before GREEN, FLETCHER, and RAMIREZ, JJ. PER CURIAM. We deny the State's petition for certiorari review of the circuit court's court denial appellate of a decision which reversed the trial thereby LOWER TRIBUNAL CASE NO. 03-278AC CASE NO. 3D04-2266

state-charged

continuance,

discharging

the

defendant

upon

the

expiration

of

the

speedy

trial period. Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.191. The circuit court, sitting in its appellate capacity,

followed the essential requirements of the law.

The defense had

been diligent in preparing its case and demanding discovery; the state was not similarly diligent as it repeatedly failed to provide essential discovery as requested by defense counsel, and was repeatedly admonished by the trial court for failing to do so. The state's inordinate failure to provide fundamental and

valuable discovery until the very last day of the speedy trial recapture period reasonably and effectively prejudiced the

defense in preparation of its case, and would delay the trial date past all of the speedy trial deadlines. Under the

circumstances, the defense properly refused to waive its speedy trial rights. Given the facts of this case, discharge of the defendant was the proper remedy under the speedy trial rule. Any other

result would compromise the purposes of the speedy trial rule, and set a precedent for allowing the state to delay providing requested discovery with no concomitant penalty. in some cases, force defense counsel to It would also, compromise its

preparation of a fair and competent defense. Petition for writ of certiorari denied.

2

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