CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 16342, 2010 WL 4260952
...nizations (RICO) Act. We agree with the trial court that the Victims of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, as written by the legislature, applies only to claims where orders vacating sentences have been entered based on "exonerating evidence." § 961.03(1)(a)....
...Fessenden's judgments and sentences were vacated. The Act, however, specifies that if a person's judgments and sentences were vacated prior to the effective date of the statute, the person could petition for compensation so long as the petition was filed by July 1, 2010. § 961.03(1)(b)(2)....
...[2] An official determination that one is a "wrongfully incarcerated person" requires the person to return to the court where the judgment and sentence were vacated. The person files a petition in that court seeking a determination of this status. § 961.03(1). The prosecuting authority is *4 required to respond to the petition and either certify that the person is "not ineligible" to be so classified or to contest the petition. § 961.03(2)....
...If the prosecutor does not contest the petition, based on the "evidence of actual innocence" and other evidence, the court is authorized to find by clear and convincing evidence that the person is eligible and to issue an order certifying this status to the Department. § 961.03(3)....
...If the prosecutor contests the petition, the trial court can either dismiss the petition if the person is "ineligible under the provisions of [section]
961.04" or it can transfer the matter to the Division of Administrative Hearings for a hearing to resolve the factual disputes. §
961.03(4). Once the hearing is concluded, the matter returns to the trial court to enter an order either granting or denying the determination that the person is a "wrongfully incarcerated person." §
961.03(6), (7). III. The Trial Court's Dismissal The trial court in this case dismissed Mr. Fessenden's petition, but it did not dismiss the petition pursuant to section
961.03(4)(a)....
...elony while incarcerated, and (3) the existence of a concurrent sentence for a crime for which the petitioner was not wrongfully convicted. None of these exclusions applies to Mr. Fessenden. Thus, the trial court could not dismiss the petition under section 961.03(4)(a)....
...Fessenden's judgments and convictions on appeal because the conduct proven at trial did not constitute the charged offense qualifies him as a "wrongfully incarcerated person." IV. The Definition of "Wrongfully Incarcerated Person" in Section
961.02(4) must Be Read in Conjunction with the Provisions in Section
961.03(1)(a)....
...Fessenden is arguably a "wrongfully incarcerated person" as that term is defined in section
961.02(4). That definition states: "Wrongfully incarcerated person" means a person whose felony conviction and sentence have been vacated by a court of competent jurisdiction and, with respect to whom pursuant to the requirements of s.
961.03, the original sentencing court has issued its order finding that the person neither committed the act nor the offense that served as *5 the basis for the conviction and incarceration and that the person did not aid, abet, or act as an accomplice or accessory to a person who committed the act or offense....
...d or abet Mr. Amos or any other person in those offenses. As it stands, the acts he committed are not criminal acts. The definition of "wrongfully incarcerated person," however, includes a requirement that the trial court have issued its order under section 961.03. Section 961.03(1)(a) explains that in order to meet the definition of "wrongfully incarcerated person," the petitioner must establish that the conviction and sentence were vacated by an order "based upon exonerating evidence." The petition itself must "[s]tate that verifiable and substantial evidence of actual innocence exists and state with particularity the nature and significance of the verifiable and substantial evidence of actual innocence." § 961.03(1)(a)(1)....
...We conclude that these policies are applicable to the Act and that it should be strictly construed in favor of the State. Under such a strict construction, an order vacating a conviction and sentence based on the legal ruling of this court is not an order "based upon exonerating evidence," as required by section 961.03(1)(a)....
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...We withdraw the per curiam affirmance and substitute
the following in its place.
Appellant, David Brewster, appeals an Order Denying Motion for
Damages, for Return of Restitution and Compensation, which the court
dismissed as untimely filed pursuant to section 961.03, Florida Statutes
(2017)....
...1249 (2017).” Appellant sought the
return of the restitution amounts paid in 02-720 and 02-1339. He also
sought damages for his illegal detention and false imprisonment. The trial
court denied the relief on the grounds that the petition was untimely filed
pursuant to section 961.03, Florida Statutes (2017), the Wrongful
Conviction Act....
...permitting compensation to persons wrongfully convicted of crimes.
Under the act, a person is entitled to compensation for wrongful
incarceration, including costs, fines, and attorney’s fees, due to his
wrongful conviction. §
961.06, Fla. Stat. (2017). Section
961.03(1)(b)1.,
Florida Statutes (2017), requires that a petition for compensation be filed
within ninety days of the order vacating the conviction....
...The court held that writing a check which is unsupported
by sufficient funds is not a fraudulent representation to a bank.
2
the federal court order, resulting in the dismissal of his conviction, was
entered in 2009. Under section 961.03(1)(b)1., appellant should have filed
the petition within ninety days of that order in 2009. Instead, appellant
filed his petition under section 961.03 in 2017....
