Court Opinion

ID: 9939536
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-10 17:03:20.518181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:41:23.786422
License: Public Domain

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                  _____________________________

                        Case No. 5D24-50
                  LT Case Nos. 2020-CF-001108
                               2020-CF-001145
                  _____________________________

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN
AND FAMILIES,

    Petitioner,

    v.

JAMALAH LEWIS and STATE OF
FLORIDA,

    Respondents.
               _____________________________

Petition for Certiorari Review of Order
from the Circuit Court for Seminole County.
William S. Orth, Judge.

Logan Bartholomew, Assistant Regional Counsel, of Department
of Children and Families, Orlando, for Petitioner.

Kepler B. Funk, Keith F. Szachacz, and Alan S. Diamond, of
Funk, Szachacz & Diamond, LLC, Melbourne, for Respondent,
Jamalah Lewis.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Douglas T.
Squire, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for
Respondent, State of Florida.

                        February 9, 2024
LAMBERT, J.

     The Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) petitions
this court for a writ of certiorari to quash an order of the circuit
court that involuntarily committed to its care the respondent,
Jamalah Lewis, who is a defendant in pending cases on the circuit
court’s felony docket. DCF argues that there was no clear and
convincing evidence before the court for the court to find that
Lewis met the criteria for commitment under section 916.13,
Florida Statutes (2023), because there was no recent or current
evaluation from an expert witness supporting the order for
involuntary commitment. DCF also argues that the circuit court’s
own observations are not sufficient, by themselves, to order Lewis
to be involuntarily committed to its care.

     Based upon this court’s very recent decision in Department of
Children & Families v. Kirshner, Case No. 5D23-3533, 2024 WL
387175, at *2 (Fla. 5th DCA Feb. 2, 2024) (granting DCF’s petition
for writ of certiorari and quashing order involuntarily committing
the defendant to DCF’s care when the commitment order was
based on a stale expert evaluation), and Department of Children &
Families v. Lotton, 172 So. 3d 983, 987–88 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015)
(holding that “[u]nder section 916.13, the findings necessary for
commitment must be based on experts’ opinions because they
involve the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness” and that
“[w]ithout reports or testimony from experts who examined and
evaluated the defendant, no trial court can be in a position to make
the appropriate findings, supported by clear and convincing
evidence”), we grant the petition, quash the order of involuntary
commitment, and remand for further proceedings. 1

    PETITION GRANTED; ORDER QUASHED; REMANDED for further
proceedings.

MAKAR and EISNAUGLE, JJ., concur.

    1Based upon our decision, DCF’s motion for stay that is
embedded in its petition is denied as moot.

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          _____________________________

Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
           _____________________________

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