Robinson v. State, 98-04689.
| Decision Date | 03 November 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-04689.,98-04689. |
| Citation | 744 So.2d 1188 |
| Parties | Dawn ROBINSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Raymond Dix, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Jenny S. Sieg, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
Dawn Robinson appeals the judgment and sentence that the trial court entered following a revocation of probation. Because we conclude that the violation of probation was not willful and substantial, we reverse.
Prior to the revocation hearing, the trial court ordered Robinson to be evaluated by two mental health experts to determine whether she was competent to proceed in light of the fact that she was on medication for mental illness. Both of the mental health experts agreed that Robinson was in need of further mental treatment, but disagreed as to whether she was competent to proceed. To resolve the issue, the trial court ordered a third evaluation. The third expert found Robinson competent to proceed. Robinson admitted to all three doctors that she had been hospitalized three times previously for psychiatric treatment.
The trial court subsequently found Robinson in violation of probation for failing to report to her probation officer, as directed by her order of probation. The evidence reflected that when Robinson was to switch from community control to probation, she failed to report to the new probation officer, Reginald Garth. Garth testified that a Ms. Quesa had noted in Robinson's file that Robinson had been informed that she had to report to probation at the end of community control. However, due to her mental condition, Robinson's previous community control officer had gone to Robinson's house to do her monthly reports.
A violation of probation must be willful and substantial. See Hightower v. State, 529 So.2d 726, 727 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)
. There was no testimony, except for the hearsay testimony of the unidentified Ms. Quesa,1 that Robinson was aware that her new officer required her to report to his office instead of his coming to Robinson's home. Furthermore, Robinson's signature to acknowledge her understanding of the rules of probation and community control was missing from both the order of community control and the order of probation. Because it is not clear that Robinson was aware that she was required to report to the probation office, we conclude that her failure to do so was not a willful and...
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Savage v. State
...not have before it competent evidence that probationer's failure to comply with probation condition was willful); Robinson v. State, 744 So.2d 1188, 1189 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (holding purely hearsay evidence that defendant was aware of requirement to report was insufficient to support finding......
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Delee v. State, 3D01-1004.
...under which the failure to file a single report cannot, or should not result in a revocation of probation. See Robinson v. State, 744 So.2d 1188 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999)(defendant did not willfully and substantially violate the condition of probation by failing to report to probation officer, whe......
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Medrano v. State, 3D03-2024.
...1175 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (reversing a violation of probation because the violation was the result of mental illness); Robinson v. State, 744 So.2d 1188 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) ("mental illness can render violations of probation not willful and substantial"); Williams v. State, 728 So.2d 287, 288......
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Palma v. State, 5D01-3599.
...can be debilitating to the point that a probationer cannot comply with the terms of his probation); see also Robinson v. State, 744 So.2d 1188, 1189 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (stating that a mental illness can render violations of probation not willful and substantial). However, the instant case i......