Opinion ID: 1654652
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Plain Language of Section 14

Text: Parker's main claim is that section 903.0471 violates the plain language of article I, section 14, because it fails to require specific findings. We disagree. The district court below addressed this claim as follows: Parker argues that section 903.0471 is unconstitutional as violating Article I, section 14 of the Florida Constitution which allows pretrial detention if no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm to persons, assure the presence of the accused at trial, or assure the integrity of the judicial process. In Barns, however, Judge Gross explained in regard to the new legislation: The statutory changes plainly implement the trial court's discretion to impose pretrial detention within the limits of Article I, Section 14 of the Florida Constitution, which affords the trial judge wide latitude in the decision to deny bond.... The legislative intent behind section 907.041 was not to narrow the breadth of the trial court's discretion under the state constitution, but to be coextensive with it. Barns [v. State], 768 So.2d [529] at 532-33 [(Fla. 4th DCA 2000) ]. Barns, as we said earlier, involved a violation of a condition which was not a new crime, and thus was analyzed under 907.041, not section 903.0471. Our conclusion, however, that the trial judge's decision to deny pretrial release was still circumscribed by the Florida Constitution, would be equally applicable where the defendant committed a new crime and was being detained under section 903.0471. The statute does not, accordingly, violate the Constitution. As we noted earlier, the trial court not only found probable cause that Parker had committed the new crime while on pretrial release, but also found, consistent with Article I, section 14, that detention was necessary to protect the community from the risk of physical harm. Parker, 780 So.2d at 212. The district court properly applied the law on this claim, as explained below. As noted above, article I, section 14, was amended in 1983 to broaden the scope of persons who could be denied bail: SECTION 14. Pretrial release and detention.Unless charged with a capital offense or an offense punishable by life imprisonment and the proof of guilt is evident or the presumption is great, every person charged with a crime or violation of municipal or county ordinance shall be entitled to pretrial release on reasonable conditions. If no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm to persons, assure the presence of the accused at trial, or assure the integrity of the judicial process, the accused may be detained. Art. I, § 14, Fla. Const. (emphasis added). Contrary to Parker's claim, this section contains no requirement that a court articulate findings prior to denying pretrial release. Subsequent to the above amendment, the Legislature in 1984 enacted section 903.047, which provided in relevant part: 903.047 Conditions of pretrial release. (1) As a condition of pretrial release, whether such release is by surety bail bond or recognizance bond or in some other form, the court shall require that: (a) The defendant refrain from criminal activity of any kind .... § 903.047, Fla. Stat. (Supp.1984) (emphasis added). This section reasonably may be viewed as implementing the third criterion for detention in amended article I, section 14 (i.e., where no conditions of release can assure the integrity of the judicial process), for the commission of a crime by a pretrial releasee unquestionably impugns the integrity of the judicial processthe defendant in effect is thumbing his nose at the court. After section 903.047 was enacted, the Legislature later gave teeth to that section's proscription by enacting section 903.0471. As noted earlier, section 903.0471 provides: 903.0471 Violation of condition of pretrial release. Notwithstanding s. 907.041, a court may, on its own motion, revoke pretrial release and order pretrial detention if the court finds probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a new crime while on pretrial release. § 903.0471, Fla. Stat. (2000). Under this provision, a court may summarily revoke pretrial release and order detention upon a finding of probable cause that the releasee committed a new crime. Contrary to violating the plain language of article I, section 14, this statutory section works hand-in-hand with section 14 to assure the integrity of the judicial process.