CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
v.
LISA BOALT BROCKHOUSE
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A trial court's dismissal of a case on its own motion without notice to the prosecutor or opportunity to be heard violates due process and must be vacated.
[1] A trial court's dismissal of a criminal case on its own motion without notice to the prosecutor or opportunity to be heard violates due process and is subject to reversal…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn February 7, 2023, the trial court set aside a bench warrant against Lisa Boalt Brockhouse for failure to appear. The trial court then orally set th…
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Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida
Opinion filed June 19, 2024. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D23-0568 Lower Tribunal No. B22-12546 ________________
City of Miami Beach, Appellant,
vs.
Lisa Boalt Brockhouse, Appellee.
An Appeal from the County Court for Miami-Dade County, Julie Harris Nelson, Judge.
Ricardo J. Dopico, City Attorney for City of Miami Beach, Robert F. Rosenwald, Jr., Chief Deputy City Attorney, and Woody Clermont, Assistant City Attorney; Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Ivy R. Ginsberg, Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.
Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Andrew Stanton, Assistant Public Defender, for appellee.
Before FERNANDEZ, SCALES and BOKOR, JJ.
BOKOR, J.
2
On February 7, 2023, the trial court set aside a bench warrant issued against Lisa Boalt Brockhouse for failure to appear at a prior hearing or arraignment. At the same February 7 hearing, the trial court orally set the case for report. The municipal prosecutor for the City of Miami Beach was neither present nor received notice of the trial court’s setting the case for report. Recalling the case later in the morning, still with no municipal prosecutor present and still without providing notice to the City, the trial court orally dismissed the case on its own motion, later memorialized in a written order. The City timely appealed. As in City of Miami Beach v. Cosme, 49 Fla. L. Weekly D322 (Fla. 3d DCA Feb. 7, 2024), the trial court’s dismissal on its own motion and without notice or opportunity to be heard constituted a fundamental depravation of the City’s due process rights. We therefore vacate the dismissal and remand for further proceedings.
Reversed and remanded.