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Barns v. State9/27/2000
Petitioner Robert Barns was charged earlier this year with DUI manslaughter based on an automobile accident that resulted in the death of a nine-month-old child. He was released on a $100,000 bond. One of the conditions of his bond was that he consume no alcohol.
The state moved to revoke petitioner's bond. At a hearing on March 24, 2000, Officer David Kelley of the Palm Beach Shores Police Department testified that he encountered petitioner in a highly intoxicated state on March 22, 2000. Barns's wife testified that she and her husband were in the process of getting a divorce . She said Barns had come over to her home on the night of March 22 to work out a settlement; after dinner she and petitioner drank alcohol, two glasses of Grand Marnier each. As an alternative to detention, a third witness discussed an in- patient program in a non-secure facility where a patient is free to leave if he or she so chooses.
The state moved that the original bond be revoked, that a new bond of $250,000 be set, and that petitioner wear an ankle bracelet for monitoring house arrest, in addition to the other conditions of the original bond.
The trial judge ruled that it was necessary to incarcerate petitioner before trial in order to protect the community from physical harm. He acknowledged that such a showing might not have been sufficient to revoke bond under the prevailing case law in this district at the time. Even so, the judge said releasing Barns would place the community at risk of physical harm no matter what amount of bond or other condition was imposed.
In his petition, Barns relied primarily on Paul v. Jenne, 728 So. 2d 1167 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. granted, 741 So. 2d 1137 (Fla. 1999), to argue that the trial court's decision to revoke bond failed to comply with the pretrial detention statute, section 907.041, Florida Statutes (1999).
On April 24, 2000, we denied the petition for writ of habeas corpus by order, indicating that an opinion would follow. The court had tentatively voted to consider this case en banc for the purpose of receding from Paul as well as from Metzger v. Cochran, 694 So. 2d 842 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) and Merdian v. Cochran, 654 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). We found it to be significant that this case involved the revocation of a pre-existing bond, one that had been set at the commencement of this case, and we intended to adopt the general lines of the dissent in Thomas v. Jenne, 25 Fla. L. Weekly D790 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 29, 2000) (Gross, J., dissenting). The Thomas dissent contended that the revocation of a pre-existing bond did not have to comply with the pretrial detention statute, and that, instead, such a revocation properly traveled under the more general provisions of sections 903.046 and 903.047, Florida Statutes (1999), and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131. The Thomas dissent also expressed concern that the extension of the law in Metzger, Merdian, and Paul "limited the inherent power of the trial courts and compromised the integrity of the judicial process, without a clear signal from the legislature. . . ." Thomas, 25 Fla. L. Weekly at D792 (Gross, J., dissenting).
The legislature sent a clear signal about revocation of existing bonds during the 2000 session. While proposed opinions were still circulating through the court, the legislature passed Chapters 2000-178 and 2000- 229, Laws of Florida. Those statutes amended, clarified, and supplemented the bond and pretrial release statutes. One effect of the statutes was to nullify our decisions in Paul, Metzger, and Merdian. The amendments followed the spirit of the Thomas dissent in its concern that trial judges not be constrained in dealing with bond violators
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