Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. David Howard HARRISON, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1991-09-26
Citations: 589 So. 2d 317
Docket Number: No. 90-1758
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. David Howard HARRISON, Appellee.
Judges: W. SHARP, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 589
Pages: 317–319

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. David Howard HARRISON, Appellee.
No. 90-1758.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Sept. 26, 1991.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 16, 1991.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Bonnie Jean Parrish, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellant.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and James T. Cook, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
COWART, Judge.
The trial court, following a probation revocation hearing, found that the defendant violated several conditions of his probation but concluded these violations were technical in nature and elected to continue the defendant on probation. The State appeals arguing that this amounts to a downward departure sentence for which the trial court was required to provide contemporaneous written reasons. We disagree and affirm.
Section 948.06(1), Florida Statutes, relating to violation of probation, in effect provides that when a probationer is brought before the court on the accusation that he violated probation, and the probationer admits the charge of violation to be true, the court may revoke, modify or continue the probation. If the violation of probation charge is not admitted, the court has the discretion to hold or release the probationer with or without bond to await further hearing, or it may dismiss the charge of probation violation. Even after a hearing on the violation of probation charge, the court may revoke, modify or continue the probation. In effect, this means that the trial court, having once placed the defendant on probation, has almost unlimited authority to dismiss a violation of probation charge, or to continue or restore the defendant to probation (or reinstate the probation), whether or not the probationer is guilty of violating probation.
In this case, after the violation of probation hearing, the defendant's probation was revoked but thereafter the trial court reinstated the probation on its original terms. The statute gives the trial court the authority to do this and that statutory authority is substance, and does not depend upon procedural technicalities and is not controlled by the sentencing guidelines (§ 921.001, Fla.Stat., and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701). Furthermore, the order revoking probation was interlocutory and the trial court retains inherent authority to change such interlocutory determinations at any time before an appeal is taken or a final judgment is entered on the matter. A probationer before the court on a charge of probation violation is not necessarily "before the court for sentencing" within the meaning of that language in the sentencing guidelines rule, although if the probation is finally revoked, the defendant then comes "before the court for sentencing" and the guidelines may apply. The trial court's statutory discretion under section 948.06(1) is such that after stating that probation was revoked, the trial court could reinstate probation without it constituting a departure sentence under the guidelines requiring contemporaneous written reasons.
Affirmed.
W. SHARP, J., concurs.
HARRIS, J., dissents with opinion.