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306 So. 2d 102

Docket No. 45050.

State v. Johnson

STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Zebedee JOHNSON, Jr., Respondent.

Supreme Court of Florida

Decided November 6, 1974.

Rehearing Denied February 4, 1975.

Supreme Court of Florida · decided 1974-11-06

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“"... The salutary purpose of the constitutional provision is to insure that improper or misconceived remedies which have been sought will not justify dismissal of causes or reviews where a proper remedy or review procedure is available, provided the review sought was timely brought." State v. Johnson, 306 So.2d 102 (Fla. 1974).”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 336 So. 2d 654 - Roper v. Roper, 491 So. 2d 1268 - Fonte v. Alvarez

“The supreme court shall adopt ... a requirement that no cause shall be dismissed because an improper remedy has been sought,”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 346 So. 2d 105 - Berry v. Clement

Relies on 285 So. 2d 409 - State Ex Rel. Scaldeferri v. Sandstrom

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1974-11-06

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently December 2007

16 state decisions

801974198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Richard E. Gerstein, State's Atty., and Joseph Durant, Chief Asst. State's Atty., for petitioner.

¶2Phillip A. Hubbart, Public Defender, and Steven Rappaport, Asst. Public Defender, for respondent.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4We review by writ of conflict certiorari a final order or judgment of the District *103 Court of Appeal, Third District, declining to review a speedy trial order of the Circuit Court discharging Zebedee Johnson, Jr., respondent herein, because the State of Florida, which sought the review, misconceived its remedy having sought a writ of certiorari to review the speedy trial order.

¶5The District Court concluded that any review of the speedy trial order should have been undertaken pursuant to a notice of appeal and accordingly dismissed the State's petition for writ of certiorari. Its order was final and terminated the State's effort to gain a review.

¶6The petition for writ of certiorari was filed within 30 days after entry of the speedy trial order.

¶7We do not believe undue elaboration is necessary in rendering our decision in this case. Under Section 2(a), Article V, Florida Constitution, this Court is mandated to adopt rules of practice and procedure in all courts which shall include "a requirement that no cause shall be dismissed because an improper remedy has been sought."

¶8It is agreed that had notice of appeal been filed instead of petition for writ of certiorari, the authorizations in Section 924.07, F.S. would have allowed appellate review of the speedy trial order.

¶9It is our view the dismissal was improper and conflicts with the rationale of State ex rel. Scaldeferri v. Sandstrom (Fla.), 285 So.2d 409, where we said in effect that we should entertain an appellate review or remedy which has merit "in whatever form is proper," pursuant to the mandate of said Section 2(a), Article V of the Constitution. The salutary purpose of the constitutional provision is to insure that improper or misconceived remedies which have been sought will not justify dismissal of causes or reviews where a proper remedy or review procedure is available, provided the relief sought was timely brought.

¶10We are unable from the record before us to proceed to the point of disposing finally the merits of the speedy trial order. We quash the dismissal of the State's petition for writ of certiorari and direct the District Court to treat the petition as a notice of appeal and review the merits of the speedy trial order.

¶11It is so ordered.

¶12ERVIN, BOYD, DEKLE and OVERTON, JJ., concur.

¶13ADKINS, C.J., and McCAIN, J., dissent.

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