Janes v. Heidtman, 73--61
| Decision Date | 25 January 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 73--61,73--61 |
| Citation | 272 So.2d 207 |
| Parties | Jacob Dale JANES, Petitioner, v. William R. HEIDTMAN, as Sheriff of Palm Beach County, Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jacob Dale Janes, in pro. per.
No appearance for appellee.
Petitioner has applied to this Court for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. The application which is handwritten on wax paper, although somewhat disjointed and difficult to decipher, in essence, challenges the reasonableness of the detention and alleges confinement without bail.
Our file reflects that this application was originally filed in the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida. 1 However, the application was withdrawn and refiled in this court after the petitioner was advised by the Circuit Court that jurisdiction to entertain the application rested with the District Court of Appeal. The Circuit Court reached its conclusion on the basis that in order to issue the constitutional writ of habeas corpus the Circuit Court must have appellate jurisdiction over the court whose actions formed the basis for the petition. The record before us does not indicate what other court may have been involved, i.e., a court of record as it existed prior to the revision of Article V, F.S.A., or possibly another judge of the same circuit court. It is, however, reasonable to infer that the Circuit Court assumed that it was acting in an appellate capacity and as such it did not have jurisdiction to entertain the writ of habeas corpus. Whatever the precise nature of the procedural circumstances, whether involving an 'inferior' court or a judge of the same court, it is immaterial to our disposition of the matter under consideration.
The applicable provisions of the Florida Constitution both prior to and subsequent to the adoption of the newly revised judicial article vest the Circuit Court with the power to issue writs of habeas corpus. See Article V, Section 5(b), Constitution of Florida, 1972. The primary object of habeas corpus is to determine the legality of the restraint under which the person is held. 15 Fla.Jur. Habeas Corpus § 2. As pointed out in State v. Schulz, Fla.App.1965, 180 So.2d 367 'a traditional purpose of the writ is to furnish a speedy hearing and remedy to one whose liberty is unlawfully restrained'. In the application under consideration petitioner alleges that he has been held in the Palm Beach County Jail for some 80 days without having been brought to trial and that his confinement is without bail. The pertinent provisions of the Florida Constitution and applicable decisions relating thereto clearly recognize the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court in habeas corpus; the application presently before us is within the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.
We are aware of those cases which have held that where custody or confinement is pursuant to an order of another court to which the circuit court has no appellate or supervisory jurisdiction, the circuit court exercise of jurisdiction in habeas corpus proceedings is subject to certain limitations. Richardson v. State ex rel. Milton, Fla.App.1969, 219 So.2d 77; Clark v. State, Fla.App.1960, 122 So.2d 807; Yates v. Buchanan, Fla.App.1964, 170 So.2d 72; Buchanan v. State, Fla.App.1965, 171 So.2d 186; Frederick v. Rowe, 1932, 105 Fla. 193, 140 So. 915; State v. Browne, 1932, 105 Fla. 631, 142 So. 247. Under such circumstances:
'. . . (T)he circuit court may issue the writ to inquire into the cause of detention of the petitioner, and may discharge the person so held in custody if it is shown that his retention is without jurisdiction or that the order under which he is held is void; but the circuit court...
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State ex rel. Renaldi v. Sandstrom
...from entertaining petitions for writs of habeas corpus directed at actions of other circuit courts or judges. See, e.g., Janes v. Heidtman, Fla.App.1973, 272 So.2d 207. Thus, petitions for writs of habeas corpus that were traditionally directed to the circuit courts are now being directed t......
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Murray v. Regier
...by a court over which there is no appellate jurisdiction, but may not review "the legal sufficiency of the order"); Janes v. Heidtman, 272 So.2d 207, 208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973) (permitting reviewing court without appellate jurisdiction to discharge a person based on illegality of order, but no......
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Leichtman v. Singletary
...if it is shown that his retention is without jurisdiction or that the order under which he is held is void. See Janes v. Heidtman, 272 So.2d 207, 208 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). As explained by the second district in State v. Broom, 523 So.2d 639, 641 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988), appeal dismissed, 545 So.2......
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State ex rel. Scaldeferri v. Sandstrom
...Renaldi v. Sandstrom, 276 So.2d 109 (1973), and Judge Gerald Mager's Fourth District opinion (cited in Sandstrom) in Janes v. Heidtman, 272 So.2d 207 (Fla.App.1973), have considered the problem of concurrent jurisdiction in habeas corpus cases. These opinions contain excellent reviews of th......