Opinion ID: 1588587
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Get the Facts

Text: Finally, Marek requests that this Court relinquish jurisdiction to the postconviction court for the purpose of conducting an evidentiary hearing on how Judge Levenson came to be assigned to this proceeding. We hereby deny Marek's motion to relinquish. The record indicates that after this Court issued an order reversing and remanding the prior order denying Marek's third successive postconviction motion, the clerk of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court assigned the postconviction proceeding on remand to Judge Levenson. Meanwhile, on May 21, 2009, the State sent a notice to Chief Judge Tobin of the Seventeenth Circuit, informing him of this Court's order. The notice requested that Chief Judge Tobin assign a new judge to preside over the proceedings on remand as ordered by this Court. Chief Judge Tobin assigned a judge to the case but later rescinded this assignment upon learning that the clerk had assigned the case to Judge Levenson. During the June 1-2, 2009, evidentiary hearing, defense counsel asked Judge Levenson about the order assigning a judge other than Judge Levenson to the case and the order rescinding that assignment. Judge Levenson explained that after this Court's remand order issued, the circuit court clerk's office randomly assigned the case to Judge Levenson using its standard procedure but that [i]ndependent of that, Chief Judge Tobin received the same directive from the Supreme Court and took it upon himself to assign it specifically to an administrative judge. Judge Levenson stated that because we all felt that the proper procedure was to have it done randomly, we abided by the procedure followed by the constitutional officer, the Clerk of Courts. Judge Levenson asked defense counsel if he had any objections, and defense counsel raised no objection. On June 24, 2009, defense counsel filed in the postconviction court a document titled Motion to Get the Facts, asserting that the defense had not been timely informed of the State's notice to Chief Judge Tobin and requesting that the postconviction court conduct an evidentiary hearing about how this proceeding was assigned to Judge Levenson. The postconviction court did not rule on the motion. On appeal, defense counsel asks this Court to relinquish jurisdiction for an evidentiary hearing and continues to assert that he was not aware of the State's contact with Chief Judge Tobin until after the evidentiary hearing. The State contends that it emailed defense counsel a copy of the notice on May 21, 2009. Contrary to Marek's claim that an evidentiary hearing is required to determine how Judge Levenson was assigned to this proceeding, the record establishes that the clerk randomly assigned the case to Judge Levenson. Defense counsel does not dispute this fact. The defense does not allege that the case was assigned to Judge Levenson by a nonstandard procedure. Nor does defense counsel allege any impropriety or appearance of impropriety by Judge Levenson. The only disputed factual issue is whether the State in fact emailed defense counsel on May 21, 2009, to inform defense counsel of its notice of remand sent to Chief Judge Tobin. No evidentiary hearing is needed to resolve this factual issue because it is immaterial. There is no allegation that the State engaged in any ex parte communication with the judge who presided over Marek's hearing. The State's notice sent to Chief Judge Tobin pertains to a strictly administrative matter[] not dealing in any way with the merits of the case. Rose v. State, 601 So.2d 1181, 1183 (Fla.1992) (emphasis removed) (prohibiting judges from engaging in any conversation about a pending case with one party outside the presence of the other party but excluding conversations about administrative matters from this prohibition). Because the defense has not presented any legal issue that requires the resolution of a disputed material factual question, we deny Marek's request that this Court relinquish jurisdiction to conduct an evidentiary hearing.