State ex rel. Taylor v. Warden of Orange County Prison Farm, 35740
| Decision Date | 11 January 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 35740,35740 |
| Citation | 193 So.2d 606 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida ex rel. Jesse Lee TAYLOR, Petitioner, v. WARDEN OF ORANGE COUNTY PRISON FARM, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Tobias Simon and Alfred Feinberg, Miami, for petitioner.
W. J. Vaughn, Melbourne, for respondent.
This cause is before us on petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking release of petitioner, now serving mandatory consecutive sentences of ninety (90) days each on two counts and two additional ninety (90) day sentences in lieu of payment of $500 fines on each count. These sentences were imposed by the Municipal Court of the City of Melbourne for violations of municipal ordinances.
We issued the writ and, having considered the return of the Attorney General and briefs of the parties, find petitioner's contentions to be without merit.
Writ of habeas corpus is discharged.
It is so ordered.
Petitioner seeks writ of habeas corpus for release from confinement which he is serving because of convictions of violations of municipal ordinances in the Municipal Court of the City of Melbourne, Florida. Petitioner was sentenced to mandatory consecutive sentences of ninety (90) days each on two counts, required to pay a fine of $500.00 on each count, and in lieu of payment of fines was required to serve two additional 90-day sentences. As a result, he was sentenced to a total of 360 days.
Petitioner is an indigent and he pleaded guilty to violations of the municipal ordinances. He had no counsel of his own and the Municipal Court did not provide him with one or advise him of his right to counsel, but nevertheless accepted his guilty plea.
I think the time has come when the principles announced in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799, should be applied in cases of the seriousness of this case, despite our prior holdings in Fish v. State, Fla., 159 So.2d 866, and Watkins v. Morris, Fla., 179 So.2d 348. When in any court in this state, whether state, county or municipal, a criminal case arises and the penalty prescribed in the event of conviction authorizes a sentence of confinement of 30 days or more, either initially or upon failure to pay a monetary fine, counsel should be provided an indigent defendant to counsel and assist him in his defense pursuant to the principles and rules announced in Gideon v. Wainwright, su...
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Bramlett v. Peterson
...to guarantee accused indigent misdemeanants their constitutional right to court-appointed counsel. State ex rel. Taylor v. Warden of Orange County Prison Farm, 193 So.2d 606 (Fla.1967); Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla.1965); Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla. 1964); Brinson v. Purdy, ......
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...our previous decisions in Fish v. State, Fla.1964, 159 So.2d 866, Watkins v. Morris, Fla. 1965, 179 So.2d 348, and State ex rel. Taylor v. Warden, Fla.1967, 193 So.2d 606, holding that an indigent defendant is not entitled to court-appointed counsel when accused only of a misdemeanor. It is......
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...and the Supreme Court of Florida over the right to counsel". See also Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla.1965); State ex rel. Taylor v. Warden, 193 So.2d 606 (Fla.1967); Brinson v. Purdy, 201 So.2d 260 (3rd D.C.A.Fla.1967); Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla.1964). The Fifth Circuit recen......
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...Court reveal clearly that petitioner has no adequate avenue for relief in the state courts. State of Florida ex rel. Taylor v. Warden of Orange County Prison Farm, 193 So. 2d 606 (Fla.1967). See also Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348, 349 (Fla.1965); Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla.1964). ......