HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter from State Attorney
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2005 DEC - 5 Pii 12: 10
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STATE ATTORNEY
ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA
E. R GRAHAM BUILDING
1350N.W.12THAVENUE
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33136-2111
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KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
STATE ATTORNEY
TELEPHONE (305) 547-0100
November 16, 2005
Mr. Jorge M. Gonzalez
City Manager
City of Miami Beach
1700 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Dear Mr. Gonzalez:
Legislation passed in 2004 to implement Revision 7 to Article V of the Florida Constitution
provides that the State Attorney may prosecute municipal ordinances only if (1) the ordinance violation is
ancillary to a felony prosecution (s. 27.02(1), Florida Statutes), or (2) the county/municipality has entered
into a contract with the State Attorney for these prosecutions (s. 27.34(1), Florida Statutes). Additionally,
counties/municipalities are required to pay for the defense of indigents charged with a violation of an
ordinance (s. 27.54(2), Florida Statutes) and are required to pay a $10 filing fee to the Clerk of the Court
for each ordinance violation prosecuted (s. 34.045(l)(a), Florida Statutes).
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Attached please find a proposed agreement for the prosecution of ordinance violations for the
period of October 1, 2005 - September 30, 2006. Please sign and return to this office as soon as possible.
If you desire to make changes to the contract and want an electronic version of this document, please
contact me at tedmannelli@miamisao.com and I will forward you a copy. This contract is for the
prosecution of ordinances only; the State Attorney's office has no statutory authority to handle appeals
relating to the constitutionality of ordinances.
The State Attorney's office will need either a signed agreement to prosecute ordinances or a
response from you stating that you do not want us to prosecute any ordinance violations. If you opt for the
latter, we would further need to be advised as to what procedures you intend to follow if an arrest is charged
as an ordinance violation, i.e., you need to advise us who will represent you or whether you want us to nolle
pros any arrests which are charged against ordinances. In this regard, please understand that a signed
agreement merely gives us the authority to prosecute the arrests. If an arrest is erroneously charged as an
ordinance violation and you dispute your bill, we will review and make corresponding adjustments to our
records so that you will not be obligated to pay.
An ordinance with a corresponding state statute may be filed as either a state statute violation or
municipal ordinance violation. Whether a state statute or ordinance is charged is dependent on what the
officer indicates on the arrest form. Please be aware that the enabling code incorporates a state statute by
reference and converts the prosecution to an ordinance violation. If an officer lists the
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county/municipality enabling code on the arrest form, it will be rIled as an ordinance violation, thus
triggering the charges provided for in the statute. Some entities have directed their officers to file
everything with a corresponding state statute as a state statute violation. If that is the policy decision of the
county/municipality, police officers should be directed to put the state statute citation on the arrest form
while omitting the enabling code. If an arrest is charged to a state statute, the county/municipality will
avoid any of the charges provided for in statute; however, any fmes that are levied will accrue to the state
and not the entity whose officer made the arrest. Whether this is cost beneficial is a decision that each
entity will have to make for itself.
We will be using data from the Clerk of the Court's database as our billing document (see
Attachment 2 for an example). These data represent ordinance violations for which the county/municipality
is being charged a filing fee pursuant to s. 27.34(1), Florida Statutes. Please note that this is a monthly
report, which will be provided to you on a quarterly basis.
You will be billed at the statutorily prescribed rate of $50 per hour. Our estimate is that, on
average, it takes approximately 20 minutes per case; therefore, you will be charged at the rate of $16.67 per
case. Section 27.34(1)(a), Florida Statutes, allows the Florida Legislature to specify a different hourly rate
in the General Appropriations Act. If the Legislature specifies a different rate for the 2006-2007 state fiscal
year, the contract will be amended accordingly. Please note that this is the charge for ordinance prosecution
only. Pursuant to state law, there are separate charges for indigent defense from the Public Defender and
filing fees from the Clerk of the Court.
Since this process is heavily dependent on input from the arresting officer and the booking
correctional officer, it is possible that some errors might be made on the invoice. You are requested to
review the invoice when you receive it. Please note items that you dispute, deduct their cost, and remit the
remainder. The items under dispute will be reviewed by our staff and re-invoiced in the following quarter if
necessary .
If you have any questions about the procedures discussed above, or the contract, or if I can provide
any other information, please do not hesitate to contact me at 305-547-0562 or at
tedmannelli@miamisao.com.
Sincerely,
KATHERINE FERNANDEZ RUNDLE
State Attorney
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By: Theodore F. Mannelli
Executive Director
TFM/cj
Enclosures