Case Name: Henry William NEUMAN, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1983-01-05
Citations: 431 So. 2d 168
Docket Number: No. 81-357
Parties: Henry William NEUMAN, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: DAUKSCH, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 431
Pages: 168–170

Head Matter:
Henry William NEUMAN, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 81-357.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Jan. 5, 1983.
Rehearing Denied May 19, 1983.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Julianne Piggotte MeLarty, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Evelyn D. Golden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dayto-na Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
COWART, Judge.
This is another speedy trial case.
Appellant was arrested on November 19, 1979. Therefore, the 180 day rule period commenced on that date and absent some intervening, tolling event, would have run out May 17,1980. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.191(a)(1). However, on May 8, 1980, without objection, if not with tacit approval of appellant, the trial court stated it would "reset the trial in about 30 to 45 days." Appellant does not contend the trial court action did not properly extend the time for speedy trial. Instead he concedes that the trial court's action adds 45 days to May 8, 1980, and contends that the speedy trial rule period as extended ended on June 22,1980, and that his motion for discharge filed July 11, 1980, was erroneously denied. We agree.
In Smith v. State, 345 So.2d 1117 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), and in State v. Nelson, 320 So.2d 835 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975), the defendants specifically agreed to a trial date beyond the 180 day speedy trial rule time and then, after the 180 day period but before the agreed trial date, moved for a discharge. Certainly "the right to a speedy trial may be waived by a defendant by agreement to a trial date beyond the deadline for trial" as the State contends and as occurred in Smith and Nelson; but here the extended date for trial (June 22, 1980) had come and gone when appellant moved for discharge.
Apparently the trial court's intent on May 8, 1980, was to give appellant's co-defendant's attorney time to prepare for trial and this may have been viewed by the trial court as justifying an extension of speedy trial time for exceptional circumstances under Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.191(d)(2)(h) and 3.191(f)(5). However a written order, a normal prerequisite to a valid extension, was apparently never entered in this case. See State v. Barnett, 366 So.2d 411 (Fla.1978); Stuart v. State, 360 So.2d 406 (Fla.1978); Muller v. State, 387 So.2d 1037 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980).
The First District Court of Appeal has held that any extension order under Rule 3.191(d)(2)(h) based on exceptional circumstances as defined in Rule 3.191(f) disengages and terminates speedy trial rule rights, relegating an accused to his constitutional speedy trial rights, without regard to whether the order extends speedy trial limits for a specified period or continues them indefinitely. State ex rel. Lee v. Harper, 372 So.2d 1012 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). That construction has merit where a motion to continue is involved, but where the trial court extends the time for trial for a specific period of time, the better rule is that the enlarged period of time becomes the speedy trial time within which the defendant must be tried. See, e.g., State v. Jenkins, 389 So.2d 971 (Fla.1980) (where State files an appeal, it must request an extension of the speedy trial period pursuant to Rule 3.191(d)(2); and where trial court grants that extension for a specific period of time, such specified time is controlling); Healey v. State, 389 So.2d 278 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980) (where trial court under Rule 3.191(d)(2) specifically extended time for trial to 90 days following mandate from appellate court, such time period was controlling notwithstanding appellant's previous motion for a continuance). In this case the State did not bring the appellant to trial within the speedy trial period as extended by the trial court. Therefore, the appellant was entitled to discharge and the trial court's order denying his motion for discharge is reversed and appellant is discharged.
REVERSED.
DAUKSCH, J., concurs.
ORFINGER, C.J., dissents with opinion.