Puffinberger v. Holt, 89-0610
| Decision Date | 23 March 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-0610,89-0610 |
| Citation | 545 So.2d 900,14 Fla. L. Weekly 764 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 764 Cheryl A. PUFFINBERGER, Petitioner, v. James D. HOLT, Sheriff of Martin County, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Ronald B. Smith of Waxler & Smith, P.A., Stuart, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Deborah Guller, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
Petitioner asks this court to grant an emergency writ of habeas corpus after the trial court denied her motion for reduction of pretrial bond. We grant the petition, quash the order denying her motion for reduction of bond, and remand for a new bond reduction hearing.
Petitioner is charged with a violation of section 827.04(1) Florida Statutes (1987) for child abuse of her three-year-old daughter, a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of five years incarceration.
Petitioner's husband has been charged with aggravated child abuse in connection with the resulting death of petitioner's daughter, the husband's stepdaughter. Petitioner also had an eight-month-old daughter who is the natural child of petitioner and her husband.
In June of 1988 petitioner reported to the Martin County Sheriff's office the abuse of her daughter by her husband. Petitioner had left the marital home at that time for the safety of her child who had been violently abused. The child abuse case was referred to the State Attorney's office, but at the request of HRS who had entered the case, no prosecution of the husband was initiated. HRS sought alternative treatment, and the family was placed under court supervisions to be conducted by HRS workers.
The abuse of the little girl apparently continued to the point of her death in November of 1988. The State charged the husband with aggravated child abuse and the petitioner with child abuse under a warrant which alleged that she "willfully or by culpable negligence permit[ted] physical or mental injury to a child under 18 years of age." The State did not charge her with any count of aggravated child abuse. In fact, at the bond reduction hearing, the HRS worker testified that they had no direct evidence that petitioner committed any physical harm to the child, other than one instance of aggressively shaking her daughter. Despite the substantial difference in the gravity of the charges against petitioner and her husband, both warrants contained a bond amount of $200,000.
Petitioner filed a motion for bond reduction which was heard on March 2, 1989. The State argued two reasons for denial of the bond reduction at the hearing. First, the State noted that petitioner had a second child who was in foster care under supervision of HRS. The State intimated thereby that for the protection of that other child, bail should not be reduced. However, the HRS worker called by the State only requested the monitoring of any visits between petitioner and the child. Further, he testified that he did not fear for the safety of petitioner's child, should petitioner be released from jail, as the child had been placed in foster care with the voluntary agreement by petitioner. Secondly, the State alleged that both the petitioner and the husband had committed the physical injuries on the child, even though the petitioner was not charged with aggravated child abuse. No testimony was presented supporting this charge, although the State referred to the probable cause affidavits.
In support of her motion for bond reduction, the petitioner testified that she had lived in Martin County since 1985, that she had become employed in December, 1988 and would have the same job if she were released from jail. She said that she would have a place to live with her boss, who also testified on her behalf. She further testified that she had never been convicted of any crime. Finally, both her testimony and her financial affidavit made it clear that she could not afford to post a $200,000 bond. (In her petition for writ of habeas corpus, she states that she could post no more than $1,500 cash.)
After the state's argument in response that petitioner had committed some of the physical acts on the child victim, the trial court stated:
The question is whether or not there is any statement whatsoever charging Cheryl Ann Puffenberger with committing any overt acts, you know. Passive, might be passive attitude or doing nothing about it at all could also perhaps make ... I don't know. I have to deny the motion to reduce the bond, to do anything...
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Narducci v. State, 4D07-940.
...circumstances. Id.; Dyson v. Campbell, 921 So.2d 692 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 933 So.2d 520 (Fla.2006). In Puffinberger v. Holt, 545 So.2d 900 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), we held that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the defendant's request to reduce her $200,000 bond upon th......
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Patterson v. State, 94-1792
...ineffective assistance of trial counsel do not fall under those most often raised in habeas corpus petitions. See Puffinberger v. Holt, 545 So.2d 900 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (challenging denial of reasonable bail pending trial); Marshall v. Dugger, 526 So.2d 143 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988) (raising a cl......
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Quinn v. Crowder, 93-2570
...is tantamount to no bail. See Good v. Wille, 382 So.2d 408 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). We note that at bar, as in Puffinberger v. Holt, 545 So.2d 900 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), the trial court apparently did not consider any conditions other than the bail when it set the excessive Accordingly, we quash ......