DAMEON TREMAYNE MOORE, PETITIONER,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA AND CORNITA A. RILEY, AS CHIEF OF ORANGE COUNTY CORRECTIONS, RESPONDENTS.

Fla. 5th DCA | 2018-05-23

No. Case No. 5D18–1474

247 So. 3d 672 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2018) Positive Treatment

Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Dameon Moore, detained pending trial on aggravated stalking and pretrial release violation charges, sought habeas corpus relief after the trial court denied his bail reduction motion without a hearing, labeling it "legally insufficient." The Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District, granted the petition, holding that Florida law requires bail modification motions to receive an in-person hearing, and remanded for proper proceedings.

Holding

A motion for bail modification on any felony charge must be heard by a court in person, at a hearing with the defendant present, and with at least three hours' notice to the state attorney. Denying such a motion without a hearing violates these statutory and procedural requirements. While helpful guidance exists regarding factors to consider, the failure to include specific factors does not automatically render a motion legally insufficient.

Headnotes

[1] A motion to modify bail on a felony charge must be heard in person by the court with the defendant present and with at least three hours' notice to the state attorney.

[2] A defendant's motion to reduce bail is improperly denied without a hearing when statutory and rule requirements mandate such a hearing.

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Key Quotes

“An application for modification of bail on any felony charge must be heard by a court in person, at a hearing with the defendant present, and with at least 3 hours' notice to the state attorney.”
Establishes the mandatory procedural requirement that trial courts must follow when considering bail modification motions, which the trial court violated by denying Moore's motion without a hearing.

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Facts & Procedural History

Moore was arrested for aggravated stalking after an injunction and for violating a condition of pretrial release in a domestic violence case. The tria…

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Topics

Legally Insufficient Motion Pretrial Release Writ Of Habeas Corpus Petition For Writ Of Habeas Corpus

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Opinion of the Court

PALMER, J.

Dameon Moore petitions this court seeking a writ of habeas corpus. We grant the petition.1

Moore was arrested for aggravated stalking after an injunction and for violating a condition of pretrial release in a *673domestic violence case. At his initial appearance, the trial court set bail at $25,000 for the stalking charge and $1,500 for the violation charge. Moore subsequently filed a motion to reduce his bail which the trial court denied as being "legally insufficient." Moore challenges this ruling.

Generally, every person charged with a crime "shall be entitled to pretrial release on reasonable conditions." Art. 1, § 14, Fla. Const. After bail has been set, "[a]n application for modification of bail on any felony charge must be heard by a court in person, at a hearing with the defendant present, and with at least 3 hours' notice to the state attorney." § 903.035(2), Fla. Stat. (2017) ; accord Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.131(d)(2). Thus, since section 903.035(2) and rule 3.131(d)(2) both required that Moore's motion for bail modification be heard in person by the court, his motion was improperly denied without a hearing.2

Accordingly, we grant the petition and remand this matter to the trial court for a proper rule 3.131(d) hearing.

PETITION GRANTED; CAUSE REMANDED.

ORFINGER and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.

The instant petition alleges that, since March 13, 2018, when attorneys with the Office of the Public Defender have filed bail motions requesting a hearing before this trial judge, they have received emails from the judge denying the motions without prejudice. The judge has also attached to each email a 35-paragraph template, suggesting that completion of the template would render the defendant's motion sufficient. However, the template seeks some information which is unnecessary or improper for consideration in connection with a motion to reduce bail. While no specific information is required to be included in a motion to reduce bail, the factors set forth in rule 3.131(b)(3)-(6) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure and section 903.046(2) of the Florida Statutes (2017) are helpful in placing the State and the trial court on notice of the factors on which the defendant intends to rely. Importantly, the failure to include those factors in the motion does not automatically render the motion legally insufficient.

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Citator

Cited By

Calzetta v. State of Fla. & Bryan R. Holt, 14 Fla. L. Weekly 1527 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019)

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DAMEON TREMAYNE MOORE, PETITIONER, v. STATE OF FLORIDA AND CORNITA A. RILEY, AS CHIEF OF ORANGE COUNTY CORRECTIONS, RESPONDENTS.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

DAMEON TREMAYNE MOORE, PETITIONER,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA AND CORNITA A. RILEY, AS CHIEF OF ORANGE COUNTY CORRECTIONS, RESPONDENTS.