LA TISSHA M. JOHNSON
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 1st DCA | 2018-05-25
No. 17-3432
243 So. 3d 531 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2018)

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.


Holding

A Rule 3.800(c) motion filed within sixty days of the mandate issuing from direct appeal is timely, and the trial court must consider such a motion on the merits rather than dismissing it as untimely.


Headnotes

[1] A motion to reduce or modify sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c) is timely if filed within sixty days of the mandate issued on direct a…

Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“[A] rule 3.800(c) motion is considered filed when entrusted to prison officials for further delivery or processing.”

Court citing Bailey v. State for the rule that a Rule 3.800(c) motion is timely if entrusted to prison officials for delivery within the deadline.

Facts & Procedural History

La Tissha M. Johnson filed a motion to reduce or modify her sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c) within sixty days of the mandat…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

Petitioner seeks certiorari review of the trial court’s denial of her motion to reduce or modify her sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c). The trial court dismissed the motion as untimely. However, the motion was filed within sixty days of the date that this Court issued the mandates in her direct appeals. See Bailey v. State, 136 So. 3d 615, 616 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013) (“[A] rule 3.800(c) motion is considered filed when entrusted to prison officials for further delivery or processing.”). As the State concedes, the motion was timely filed. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(c).

The trial court’s failure to consider Petitioner’s rule 3.800(c) motion on the merits was a departure from the essential requirements of law. See Bacchus v. State, 958 So. 2d 1016, 1017

2

(Fla. 1st DCA 2007). Accordingly, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari, vacate the order dismissing Petitioner’s rule 3.800(c) motion, and remand with directions to consider the motion on its merits.

OSTERHAUS, WINOKUR, and M.K. THOMAS, JJ., concur.

_____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw