Attorneys, at all times, shall conduct themselves consistent with the Guidelines for Professional Conduct and abide by the requirements of Administrative Order 2024-015.
SCHEDULING:
To schedule a hearing, please email the Judicial Assistant at Merissa.clark@fljud13.org. You must have all parties copied on the email. Please put the Defendant’s name and case number in the subject line. Failure to do so will result in a delay in response.
NOTICES OF HEARING:
Contact JA by email, copying all parties/counsel for dates. When date is agreed to and the JA responds to the email with a date, you have 48 HOURS to file your Notice of Hearing.
**If the Notice of Hearing is not filed within 48 hours, the date will no longer be available.**
ARRAIGNMENTS:
Any case set for arraignment in which a Notice of Appearance has been filed by Private Counsel will be set for a disposition hearing if a Waiver of Speedy Trial is also filed. If a Waiver of Speedy Trial is not filed with a Notice of Appearance, the case will be automatically set for pretrial conference and a trial date. Defendants who are not in custody will appear in court personally.
Defendants who are in custody and scheduled for arraignment will not be transported to court unless they are going to resolve their cases. If the defendant will be resolving their case at arraignment, please notify the JA at least 24 hours prior to the arraignment date with the name and case number. For those defendants not resolving their cases, the Judge will reset the case within an appropriate timeframe in order to protect the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.
DISPOSITIONS:
Attorneys and the Defendant are expected to attend disposition hearings. It is Defense Counsel’s responsibility to notify the Defendant when to appear at the hearing. If the case is not resolving, it is Defense Counsel’s responsibility to file a written Waiver of the Defendant’s presence. Attorneys have the option to ask for a new date in court or submit a Request for New Court Date form to the JA. Attorneys who are not on the disposition form list may contact the JA and request to be put on the list in order to receive a form by email.
An attorney failing to attend a disposition hearing without obtaining coverage and/or contacting the JA, could result in the case being set for trial and may result in a warrant being issued for the arrest of the defendant.
PLEAS:
ALL PLEAS ARE IN PERSON, UNLESS A PLEA IN ABSENTIA HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BY THE COURT. Negotiated pleas should be conveyed to, and fully discussed with, the defendant prior to announcing the plea in Court. Such discussion should include the minimum and maximum penalties and the issues covered in Rule 3.172. If counsel wishes to address the Court on any issue regarding the plea, this should be done at the time the plea is first announced, not after the plea colloquy has been concluded.
The Court regularly schedules changes of pleas, and will conduct them on its next available docket, if possible. Please email the Judicial Assistant to schedule Change of Pleas. Out-of-custody defendants accepting a term of incarceration must appear in person for their plea.
A written Plea in Absentia must be presented to the court that comports with the requirements of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172. If a plea being entered is for an enhanceable offense, the written colloquy must include an acknowledgement that the defendant has been advised of the enhancement ramifications for said offense should the defendant reoffend in the future for that offense.
PIAs for any enhanceable offenses, and in any case in which the defendant is being placed on probation, must include, in addition to the plea forms: full fingerprints, acknowledgement and waiver of rights in absentia, and a written waiver of personal appearance in court.
PIA packets should be filed with the Clerk via the Florida E-Portal and must be received before the date of the hearing. For cases requiring fingerprints, a scanned copy of the prints must be filed as well. No documents are required to be provided to the Court as the Court will rely on the case file. A plea of guilty or no contest to a criminal offense will not be accepted based strictly on counsel stating that they have their client’s authority to enter the plea when the defendant is not present and counsel does not have a written plea in absentia to present to the court.
MOTIONS:
All pretrial motions to suppress, motions to dismiss, motions in limine requiring evidentiary hearings, and motions to exclude shall be filed and served upon opposing counsel at least 14 days prior to the hearing date.
Motions that counsel would like to have heard must be filed before asking for a hearing date. All pretrial motions shall be in writing and heard prior to the date of the pretrial conference, except where otherwise specified. No motion, other than a legitimate emergency motion, will be set for a hearing unless the motion is electronically filed with the clerk prior to contacting the Judicial Assistant for a hearing date and time. The JA will check the court file when a request for a hearing is made to determine whether the motion is in the file. If the motion is not in the file, the motion will not be set for a hearing absent a representation from counsel that the motion has been filed but has not yet appeared for viewing. This process is facilitated if the attorney filing the motion includes the JA email address on the e-filing. Please include the case number and defendant’s name in the subject line when requesting a court date. As a reminder: once a date is provided, you have 48 HOURS to file your Notice of Hearing.
DISCOVERY MOTIONS AND MOTIONS IN LIMINE:
All Motions in Limine and all motions pertaining to discovery disputes SHALL contain a statement by the moving party that a good faith attempt to resolve the matter without Court involvement has been made and SHALL describe the manner in which the attempt was made. Motions to Compel Discovery should be filed within 10 days after the date Discovery is due. Motions to Compel More Adequate Responses to Discovery should be filed within 10 days of receipt of the alleged incomplete Discovery. Lack of diligence in pursuing remedies for discovery disputes will be considered in determining whether to grant a continuance or to which party a continuance should be charged.
COMPETENCY MOTIONS:
All motions in which a party is requesting the court to appoint a doctor for a Court Ordered Forensic Competency Evaluation shall be filed with the Clerk of Court. Once the motion has been filed, the Judicial Assistant can be emailed for a court date. If the Court decides an evaluation is appropriate at the motion hearing, the Counsel requesting the evaluation shall be responsible for uploading the Order to the Court’s work queue in the E-Portal for signature.
CASE LAW: All cases, statutes, exhibits, rules or other citations of authority a party wishes the Court to consider SHALL be provided to the Court at least two business days prior to the hearing on the motion. Cases and other citations will be cited in the motion.
PRETRIALS:
The defendant is required to appear, in person, at all Pretrial Conference hearings, unless a written waiver has been previously filed with the Court, or a warrant may be issued for the defendant. In certain circumstances, the Court may waive the appearance of the defendant without a waiver, but this is on a case by case basis.
The Court recognizes the term “Pretrial Conference” as used in Florida Rules of Criminal Procedures 3.180(a)(3) and 3.220(o)(1) to refer to any hearing held prior to a trial. However, this Court specifically uses the term “Pretrial” to refer to the last hearing scheduled before a Jury Trial (as distinguished from disposition dates or motion hearings).
The defendant’s personal presence at the pretrial hearing is vital because it gives the court the opportunity to conduct a colloquy regarding any plea offers from the State as well as ensure the defendant is aware of any and all minimum and maximum sanctions. Without their presence, the Court cannot discern the defendant’s understanding of the potential penalties and ascertain that they are knowingly and voluntarily choosing to proceed to trial. Further, the Court uses the pretrial hearing to assess whether the parties are prepared for trial. The Court finds it necessary for the defendant to personally participate in these proceedings as it is the last opportunity to resolve the case prior to Trial and to ensure the defendant is aware of the status of the case.
Therefore, the Court finds attendance in person at a Pretrial Conference is a good cause finding and the Court can require the attendance of the defendant. Jimenez v. State, 201 So. 3d 214 (2nd DCA 2016).
There is a Last Call docket, however, the parties are encouraged to resolve cases at the Pretrial Conference and not wait until the Last Call docket. Last Call should be reserved for those case in which a genuine and unavoidable reason exists for the delay.
MOTION TO CONTINUE:
A disposition sheet shall not be used for a case set for Pretrial. Any motion for continuance SHALL state whether any prior motion for continuance has been filed and shall, as with any other motion, be in WRITING and be set and heard prior to the trial date.
TRIALS:
This Court expects all parties to be prepared and ready for trial on the morning of the trial date. Defendants who are late to court on trial morning should expect a warrant to be issued. All objections made during trial, or any other evidentiary proceeding shall be supported by specific statutory authority or case law, which shall be provided, if requested by the Court, at the time of the objection.
JURY SELECTION AND TRIAL SUBPOENAS:
County Criminal Division D will conduct Jury Selection on Tuesdays at 8:30am on Trial Weeks, unless otherwise discussed at Pretrial. Please ensure your trial subpoenas are for the period beginning the Monday prior to Division D’s jury pick day and ending the following Monday.
JURY INSTRUCTIONS:
The State shall email proposed Jury Instructions to the JA no later than 3pm on the Monday of the week of trial, being sure to copy opposing counsel. The parties shall attempt to agree on the jury instructions, before submitting them to the Court. If the parties cannot agree on the instructions, they should specifically indicate those that have not been agreed to at the beginning of the page of the non-agreed to jury instruction. The Defense may submit any specially requested jury instructions that have not been agreed to by the State at the same time the State is required to provide jury instructions. If you have not resolved your case at the Last Call docket, that takes place following pretrial and the Monday before jury pick, you should anticipate going to trial.
WITNESS LIST:
At the same time jury instructions are submitted, counsel for the State and the Defendant shall furnish to each other, and the Court and clerk, and file via E-Portal, a list of the names of all witnesses who are expected to testify at the trial of this cause (preferably in the numerical order in which they are to be called).
EXHIBITS:
Exhibits shall be pre-marked sequentially and each page of an exhibit numbered. The parties shall attempt to agree to as many exhibits as possible prior to the start of the trial. At or before jury selection, counsel for the State and counsel for the Defendant shall furnish each other, and the Court and clerk, and file via E-Portal, an Exhibit List with exhibits numbered that correspond to all exhibits that have and are to be marked and introduced into trial.
EXHIBIT/EVIDENCE VIEW:
Prior to jury selection, counsel for the State and for the Defendant are directed to meet together by agreement, to review all evidence to be introduced into trial (and as contained on the Exhibit List(s)). Prior to opening statements, each counsel shall confer with each witness to review all exhibits planned to be referred to during testimony of that witness to ensure identification/authentication of evidence is done prior to the witness being called before the jury. No hearing or trial shall be delayed or continued beyond the scheduled starting time because an attorney needs to confer with a witness or review evidence with a witness.
PROBATION HEARINGS:
VIOLATION OF PROBATION & PROBATION MOTIONS:
VOPs will be heard on designated Mondays beginning at 9am, on non-trial weeks. On occasion, VOPs will be heard on some Thursdays beginning at 1:30pm. The Court will not accept stipulated orders to withdraw VOP warrants or set bond. You will need to file a motion prior to emailing the JA and opposing counsel for a court date. Counsel shall have the defendant’s jail credit ready before the case is called in court. All motions pertaining to probation will also be set for a hearing.
VOP EVIDENTIARY HEARINGS:
All evidence, orders, judgments and other documents you wish to use or have entered into evidence at the VOP hearing must be submitted via E-filing at least four business days prior to the date of the scheduled hearing. Notice and copies should also be emailed to opposing counsel and to the Court. Any updates to the VOP affidavit regarding completed conditions must be provided to probation at least four business days prior to the date of the scheduled hearing.
PRO SE/SELF-REPRESENTED LITIGANTS & PROBATION:
For pro se, self-represented defendant, after you fill out your motion to terminate or modify probation, you will file it with the Clerk of Court. Once filed, the Clerk’s Office will contact the JA for a date and time. Once a date and time has been provided, notice will be sent out to all parties.
E-FILING INFORMATION:
Information about E-Filing is available from the Hillsborough County Clerk Website.
ZOOM HEARING APPEARANCE REQUEST:
Beginning July 1, 2024, Zoom may be requested for non-evidentiary hearings for less than 30 minutes, unless there is a determination of good cause to deny the request.
All Zoom Hearing requests shall be in writing. If the request is made prior to the arraignment, it needs to be filed with the initial pleading. If the request is after the arraignment, separate pleading needs to be e-filed to appear in the court file. A courtesy copy shall be provided to the State Attorney’s Office as well as the Judicial Assistant – an email or phone call to the JA will not suffice. Once the request has been approved, the Zoom link will be provided via email and the Clerk of Court will send out correct notice to reflect this.
The defendants’ presence may only be waived by written waiver previously filed with the Court. Attorneys and their clients shall be appropriately dressed, as well as have their names displayed correctly. Parties will be brought in from the waiting room one case at a time to cut down on confusion and background noise. All parties and their clients are expected to still adhere to Guidelines for Professional Conduct and abide by the requirements of Administrative Order 2024-015. Any party not ready or causing a hinderance to the court process will be removed from the Zoom Hearing and rescheduled for an in-person disposition hearing.
It should be noted that Zoom hearings that are requested will not be a special docket and will be heard on a regular (in-person) Disposition docket. The cases being heard on Zoom will be addressed at the end of said Disposition docket, so once the in-person cases are done will Zoom then be started.