Lamb v. State, 87-2117
Decision Date | 28 December 1988 |
Docket Number | No. 87-2117,87-2117 |
Citation | 535 So.2d 698,14 Fla. L. Weekly 66 |
Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 66 Walter LAMB, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Michael E. Allen, Public Defender and Kathleen Stover, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and A.E. Pooser, IV, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
Walter Lamb appeals his conviction for simple battery. The issue is whether the trial court committed reversible error by failing to renew offer of counsel before trial when three weeks prior to trial the court granted Lamb's motion to withdraw court-appointed counsel and allowed Lamb to represent himself. We hold that the lower court did not err, and we affirm Lamb's conviction.
Lamb was charged with aggravated battery and removing a child beyond state limits in violation of a court order. He filed a pretrial motion to have his court-appointed counsel withdrawn and to allow self-representation. The trial court concluded that Lamb was competent and able to represent himself and allowed the court-appointed attorney to withdraw. Three weeks later Lamb represented himself at trial where the court, sua sponte, granted a motion for judgment of acquittal on the count charging Lamb with removing the child beyond state limits. A jury subsequently returned a verdict of guilty on the lesser included offense of simple battery for the remaining charge. At disposition, the trial judge renewed the offer of counsel which appellant waived orally and later signed an acknowledgment of rights form limited to the disposition stage. The court denied Lamb's motion for new trial.
Lamb argues that the court committed reversible error by failing to renew the offer of counsel prior to the trial held three weeks later, as mandated by rule 3.111(d)(5) (1987), citing Sampson v. State, 466 So.2d 1181 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) rev. den. 476 So.2d 675 (Fla.1985) ( ). 1 We disagree.
Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.111(d)(5) provides that "if waiver of counsel is accepted at any stage of the proceedings the offer must be renewed at each subsequent stage of the proceedings at which the defendant appears without counsel." Trial in every case is a critical stage. Enrique v. State, 408 So.2d 635 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) rev. den. 418 So.2d 1280 (Fla.1982); R.V.P. v. State, 395 So.2d 291 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); Machwart v. State, 222 So.2d 38 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). A trial court commits reversible error if it does not renew at the beginning of a trial its offer of counsel to a defendant who in a prior stage of the proceedings was given permission by the court to represent himself. Felton v. State, 438 So.2d 1049 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983).
The trial court satisfied the requirements of rule 3.111(d)(5). The pretrial hearing on the waiver of counsel addressed Lamb's competence and ability to appear pro se at the trial stage, and...
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Brown v. State
...trial is deemed a crucial or critical stage of the proceedings under rule 3.111(d)(5). Wilson, 76 So.3d at 1088;see Lamb v. State, 535 So.2d 698, 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (“Trial in every case is a critical stage.”). We review the adequacy of a Faretta inquiry for an abuse of discretion. Kea......
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Scott v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr.
...without counsel.”). The trial is a crucial stage of the proceeding at which the offer of counsel must be renewed. See Lamb v. State, 535 So.2d 698, 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). However, that not necessarily mean that the offer of counsel must be renewed on the first day of trial. See Wilson v. ......
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Knight v. State, SC93473.
...trial phase representation. As such, the beginning of the trial was not a subsequent stage of the proceeding.6See Lamb v. State, 535 So.2d 698 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (stating the pretrial hearing on the waiver of counsel addressed Lamb's competence and ability to appear pro se at the trial sta......
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Monte v. State
...critical stage, but rather is dependent on whether there are any intervening critical stages. For example, in Lamb v. State, 535 So.2d 698, 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), an offer of counsel three weeks before trial did not require a renewal where there were no intervening proceedings. The court ......