COY LEE COLEMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Coleman appealed the dismissal of his successive, untimely motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The court affirmed the dismissal, holding that the Spera rule requiring trial courts to allow amendment of deficient postconviction motions applies only when an initial motion is dismissed after the two-year filing deadline has expired, not when the initial motion was already decided on the merits.
The Spera rule does not require a trial court to accept an untimely successive motion or to allow amendment when an initial Rule 3.850 motion was already decided on the merits and the successive motion is filed after the two-year deadline. Spera's protection against pleading deficiencies applies only when an initial postconviction motion is dismissed after the filing deadline has passed.
[1] A trial court is not required to allow a defendant to amend an untimely, successive motion for postconviction relief when the initial motion was denied on the merits.
[2] The rule requiring a trial court to allow amendment of a postconviction motion applies only when an initial, timely motion is dismissed after the statutory filing deadlin…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Spera only requires a trial court to accept an untimely amended motion when an initial, timely rule 3.850 motion is dismissed after the two-year filing deadline has expired.”
The court establishes the narrow scope of Spera's application, distinguishing between initial and successive motions.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceColeman filed an initial Rule 3.850 postconviction motion that was denied on the merits and affirmed on appeal. He subsequently filed a successive mot…
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Appellant seeks review of the trial court’s order dismissing with prejudice his untimely, successive motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. He contends that, pursuant to Spera v. State, 971 So.2d 754 (Fla.2007), the trial court was required to give him an opportunity to correct the “pleading deficiency” in his motion and allow him to plead an exception to the time limit for seeking, postconviction relief. We find no merit in this argument because Spera only requires a trial court to accept an untimely amended motion when an initial, timely rule 3.850 motion is dismissed after the two-year filing deadline has expired. Id. at 761 (explaining that the court was closing a “gap” in rule 3.850 that precluded defendants whose initial post-conviction motions were dismissed after the deadline from filing an amended or successive motion, and holding that “when a defendant’s initial rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief is determined to be legally insufficient for failure to meet either the rule’s or other pleading requirements, the trial court abuses its discretion when it fails to allow the defendant at least one opportunity to amend the motion”) (emphasis added).
Here, it is undisputed that Appellant’s initial rule 3.850 motion .was denied on the merits (and affirmed on appeal) and that *114his current motion was filed more than two years after his judgment and sentence became final. Because Spera has no application in these circumstances, the trial court properly dismissed Appellant’s motion with prejudice. Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.
WETHERELL, ROWE, and MARSTILLER, JJ., concur.