AVERY CUFF
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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A trial court lacks jurisdiction to enter an order complying with appellate directions until the appellate court's mandate issues, regardless of the trial court's promptness in attempting to comply.
[1] A trial court's jurisdiction to enter an order complying with appellate court directions does not commence until the appellate court's mandate issues, and any order enter…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“An appellate court's mandate is the procedural vehicle by which jurisdiction transfers back to the trial court. Until issuance of our mandate, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter an order complying with our directions.”
Court's explanation of the jurisdictional requirement
Cuff successfully appealed a jail credit denial, and the appellate court issued an opinion on March 5, 2025 directing the trial court to attach record…
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Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida
Opinion filed October1, 2025. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D25-1037 Lower Tribunal No. F20-6673 ________________
Avery Cuff, Petitioner,
vs.
State of Florida, Respondent.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction – Petition for Belated Appeal.
Avery Cuff, in proper person.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Yolande M. Samerson, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Before SCALES, C.J., and LINDSEY and LOBREE, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Avery Cuff (“Cuff”) petitions this court for a belated appeal of an order
2 denying his motion for correction of jail credit under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.801. We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.141(c)(2). In a previous appeal, Cuff successfully argued that the trial court must attach to its order record excerpts conclusively refuting Cuff’s claims that he was entitled to additional jail credit. See Cuff v. State, 405 So. 3d 513, 514 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025). Our opinion issued on March 5, 2025. Very promptly, the trial court complied with our decision and on March 19, 2025, re-entered an order denying Cuff’s rule 3.801 motion, this time properly attaching records to support the denial. However, our mandate in the previous appeal did not issue until March 31, 2025. An appellate court’s mandate is the procedural vehicle by which jurisdiction transfers back to the trial court. Until issuance of our mandate, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter an order complying with our directions. Accordingly, while we applaud the trial court’s efficient compliance with our decision, and are loathe to “punish efficiency,” we must reverse the order because it was entered when the trial court did not have jurisdiction. Richardson v. State, 257 So. 3d 605, 606 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018) (citation omitted); accord Leatherwood v. State, 168 So. 3d 328, 330 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015). The State properly concedes that this case is governed by Richardson and Scott v. State, 156 So. 3d 9 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014), and that the trial court, while acting efficiently in response to our March 5, 2025
3 opinion, was without jurisdiction to enter the order from which Cuff now seeks leave to belatedly appeal. Accordingly, we deny the petition for belated appeal as moot, but vacate the trial court’s March 19, 2025 amended order denying motion for jail credit entered before entry of our mandate, see Fla. R. App. P. 9.340(a) (defining “mandate” and setting forth procedures), with instructions to enter an order on Cuff’s motion for jail credit with record attachments.1
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Algie Scott v. State, 156 So. 3d 9 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014)
- Montre D. Richardson v. State, 257 So. 3d 605 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)
- Moore v. Morgan, 168 So. 3d 328 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
- Avery Cuff v. State, 405 So. 3d 513 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025)