Fla. Parole Comm'n v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 23 January 2014
• Docket Number: No. SC11–2460.,SC11–2460.
• Citation: 132 So.3d 780
• Parties: FLORIDA PAROLE COMMISSION, Petitioner, v. Robert TAYLOR, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

132 So.3d 780

FLORIDA PAROLE COMMISSION, Petitioner,

v.Robert TAYLOR, Respondent.

No. SC11–2460.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Jan. 23, 2014.

Sarah J. Rumph, General Counsel, Florida Parole Commission, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.

Christopher M. Jones and Peter P. Sleasman, Florida Institutional Legal Services, Newberry, FL, for Respondent.

CANADY, J.

The Florida Parole Commission seeks review of Taylor v. Florida Parole Commission, 75 So.3d 307 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011), in which the First District Court of Appeal granted a petition for second-tier certiorari and quashed an order by the Third Judicial Circuit Court. Because the First District granted certiorari relief based on a de novo review of the administrative decision of the Florida Parole Commission (FPC) rather than conducting a limited certiorari review of the circuit court's order, the First District's decision expressly and directly conflicts with Sheley v. Florida Parole Commission, 720 So.2d 216, 218 (Fla.1998), in which this Court held that “once an inmate has had a full review on the merits of a Parole Commission order in the circuit court, he or she is not entitled to a second plenary appeal of the order in the district court.” We have jurisdiction. Seeart. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.

In addition to concluding that the First District's decision exceeded the scope of second-tier certiorari review, we hold that the First District erred in granting certiorari relief because the circuit court's decision did not result in a miscarriage of justice. We therefore quash the First District's decision.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1989, Robert Taylor was sentenced as a habitual offender for burglary with assault and false imprisonment. He was granted conditional release in 2007. In 2008, Taylor violated his conditional release by failing to maintain full-time employment. At that time, the FPC determined that Taylor's conditional release should not be revoked.

In 2010, Taylor admitted that he again violated a condition of his release by using marijuana. After a hearing, during which a conditional release officer and Taylor testified, the parole examiner concluded that Taylor's violation was willful and substantial but recommended that Taylor be restored to regular supervision. The FPC rejected this recommendation and revoked Taylor's conditional release. In its order, the FPC concluded that Taylor willfully violated a substantial condition of his conditional release by “using or possessing narcotics, drugs or marijuana, unless prescribed by a physician, in that on or about April 5, 2010, he did use and/or possess marijuana, not prescribed by a physician, as evidenced by his own admission.” Appellant's Brief on the Merits at Exhibit 1:94, Fla. Parole Comm'n v. Taylor, No. SC11–2460 (Apr. 2, 2013) (Revocation of Conditional Release Order). The FPC then explained that the FPC “deems it for the best interests of society and the Conditional Releasee, that Robert L. Taylor be returned to the custody of the Department of Corrections, there to remain not to exceed his/her sentence or until further order of the Commission.” Id.

Taylor filed in the circuit court a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He argued in part that the FPC abused its discretion by revoking Taylor's conditional release without “stating with particularity”—as required by section 120.57(1)( l ), Florida Statutes (2010)—its reason for departing from the parole examiner's recommendation. After ordering a response from the FPC, the circuit court denied Taylor's habeas petition. Without expressly addressing Taylor's argument that the FPC failed to state its reasoning with sufficient particularity, the circuit court concluded that Taylor was not entitled to relief from the FPC's decision because the parole examiner's finding of a willful violation was supported by competent, substantial evidence and the FPC acted within its discretion in revoking Taylor's conditional release. See Taylor v. Fla. Parole Comm'n, No. 2010–588–CA at 2 (Fla.3d Jud. Cir. Mar. 17, 2011).

Taylor then filed in the First District a pro se petition for a writ of certiorari. Taylor argued that the FPC failed to follow Florida's Administrative Procedures Act, ch. 120, Fla. Stat. (2010), when it rejected the parole examiner's recommendation. After ordering a response from the FPC, the First District granted Taylor's petition. The First District concluded that “under the facts of this case as determined by the parole examiner, the Commission abused its discretion in revoking Petitioner's supervision, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.” Taylor, 75 So.3d at 308.

The FPC petitioned this Court for review of the First District's decision on the basis that the decision expressly and directly conflicts with Sheley. This Court granted review and appointed counsel for Taylor.

II. ANALYSIS

In the analysis that follows, we first address the conflict between the First District's decision and Sheley. We then explain why the First District erred in granting second-tier certiorari relief in Taylor's case.

“[T]he district court's role on second-tier certiorari review [is] limited to a two-pronged review of the circuit court decision, not a de novo review of the agency decision.” Broward Cnty. v. G.B.V. Int'l, Ltd., 787 So.2d 838, 845 (Fla.2001) (citing generally City of Deerfield Beach v. Vaillant, 419 So.2d 624 (Fla.1982)). The district court is to determine only whether the circuit court: (1) afforded procedural due process; and (2) applied the correct law. Id. at 843.

Furthermore, certiorari review “cannot be used simply because the district court disagrees with the outcome of the circuit court's decision.... [D]istrict courts should act only where the error is one that is a departure from the essential requirements of law.” Nader v. Fla. Dep't of High. Saf. & Motor Veh., 87 So.3d 712, 726 (Fla.2012). “The test that has always applied to second-tier certiorari [is]: it should be granted only when there is a departure from the essential requirements of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice.” Id. (emphasis added).

In Sheley, this Court applied these principles of second-tier certiorari in the context of reviewing a decision by the FPC. In that case, an inmate filed a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the FPC's decision regarding his presumptive parole release date. After the circuit court denied his mandamus petition, the inmate attempted to appeal the circuit court's order. The First District treated the appeal as a petition for a writ of certiorari and denied relief, reasoning that “[t]here has been no showing that the circuit court failed to afford the inmate due process of law or that the court departed from the essential requirements of the law.” Sheley v. Fla. Parole Comm'n, 703 So.2d 1202, 1206 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). The First District further concluded that the circuit court “properly fulfilled its appellate function in reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the Commission's administrative decision.” Id. Sheley then sought review in this Court based on conflict with Johnson v. Florida Parole & Probation Commission, 543 So.2d 875 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that an inmate could appeal a circuit court's denial of a mandamus petition challenging a decision by the FPC.

After explaining that Sheley “cite[d] no statute or rule that would provide authority for a second plenary appeal of a Parole Commission order in the district court, nor d[id] he advance any sound policy reason for formulating such a practice,” Sheley, 720 So.2d at 217, this Court approved the First District's decision and disapproved Johnson.Id. at 218. This Court held that “once an inmate has had a full review on the merits of a Parole Commission order in the circuit court, he or she is not entitled to a second plenary appeal of the order in the district court.” Id. This Court also agreed with the First District's conclusion that Sheley had “been afforded extensive judicial review of his claim and ha[d] been deprived of no rights.” Id.

In the instant case, the First District's opinion indicates that the district court did not limit its review to the legal issues of whether the circuit court provided due process and applied the correct law when ruling on Taylor's habeas petition. While the First District purported not to “direct the lower tribunal to enter any particular order,” the First District reached its decision by reviewing the merits of the FPC's decision to revoke Taylor's conditional release. Taylor, 75 So.3d at 308. The First District granted Taylor's petition for a writ of certiorari based on the conclusion that “under the facts of this case as determined by the parole examiner, the Commission abused its discretion in revoking Petitioner's supervision, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.” Id.

We resolve the current conflict by adhering to our decision in Sheley regarding the scope of a district court's second-tier certiorari review of a circuit court's order. We again conclude that second-tier certiorari relief should be granted only where the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law and that departure resulted in a miscarriage of justice. A petitioner who has had appellate review of a decision by the FPC in the circuit court is not entitled to a second plenary appeal in the district court. Accordingly, the First District erred by reviewing the decision of the FPC to revoke Taylor's conditional release, rather than confining its review to the propriety of the circuit court's order.

In addition to exceeding the scope of second-tier certiorari review, the First District also erred by concluding that there had been a miscarriage of justice in Taylor's case. Second-tier certiorari is available only “to correct grievous errors that, for a variety of reasons, are not otherwise effectively subject to review.” Custer Med. Ctr. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 62 So.3d 1086,...