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644 So. 2d 556

State v. Clark

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided October 12, 1994

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1994-10-12

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently April 2016

3 state decisions

Relies on 520 So. 2d 250 - State v. Pettis · 643 So. 2d 53 - Sturge v. LCS Development Corp. · Booker v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1994-10-12

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LAZZARA, Judge.

¶1The State of Florida seeks our certiorari review of the trial court’s order denying its motion to compel the respondent to furnish the names and addresses of witnesses he intends to call at the capital sentencing proceeding to be convened under section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1993), should he be convicted of first-degree murder. We conclude that in denying the motion the trial court deviated from the essential requirements of the law, resulting in a miscarriage of justice to the state. State v. Pettis, 520 So.2d 250 (Fla.1988). Accordingly, we grant certiorari and quash the order.

¶2The respondent was indicted for first-degree murder and arson and thereafter invoked the discovery provisions of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220. The state then filed a motion to compel the respondent to furnish a list of witnesses he intended to call at the penalty phase of the trial. The state relied principally on Booker v. State, 634 So.2d 301 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), for the proposition that rule 3.220 applies to the penalty phase of a capital ease. The respondent resisted the motion, contending that the reciprocal discovery provisions of the rule did not entitle the state to penalty phase witnesses until he had been convicted of capital murder.

¶3In Booker, the court denied the defendant’s petition for writ of certiorari which sought to quash the trial court’s order compelling him to provide reciprocal discovery pertaining to the penalty phase of the case. It noted that “Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220(d)(1)(A) obligates a participating defendant to furnish the prosecutor with a written list of the names and addresses of all witnesses whom the defendant expects to call ‘at the trial or hearing.’ ” 634 So.2d at 302. The court then determined that “[t]he phrase ‘or hearing’ should be interpreted to include sentencing.” 634 So.2d at 302. It concluded, therefore, that once the defendant elected to participate in discovery, he was *557then obligated to provide the state with reciprocal discovery as to the penalty phase.

¶4The trial court distinguished Bookerby noting the defendant in that case had pled guilty to first-degree murder. It concluded, therefore, that the holding of Bookershould be limited to a procedural setting in which a defendant has already suffered a conviction for capital murder. In declining to follow Booker, the trial court specifically commented on the absence of any law governing the reciprocal penalty phase discovery obligation of a defendant prior to conviction.

¶5Subsequent to the trial court’s ruling, however, we adopted the holding of Bookerand applied it to a procedural setting in which a defendant had not yet been convicted of first-degree murder. Sexton v. State, 643 So.2d 53 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994). We rejected the contention that rule 3.220 does not apply to capital sentencing proceedings, and thus upheld the trial court’s order requiring the defendant to provide reciprocal discovery of matters relating to the penalty phase of his trial. Accordingly, based on Sexton, we grant certiorari and quash the trial court’s order in this case.

¶6We point out, however, that our opinion should not be construed as limiting a trial court’s authority under rule 3.220(k) and (l), upon good cause shown, to control the time and scope of reciprocal penalty phase discovery in order to protect the substantial rights of a person accused, but not convicted, of first-degree murder.

¶7Certiorari granted; order quashed.

PARKER, A.C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur.
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