Summary
reversing and remanding for a new hearing where transcript of involuntary commitment hearing could not be produced due to technological failure of the recording equipment and the record could not be reconstructed
Summary of this case from City of Miami v. HervisOpinion
No. 97-2697
Opinion filed May 27, 1998 JANUARY TERM 1998
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; John D. Wessel, Judge; L.T. Case No. MH 97-5881 Y.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Margaret Good-Earnest, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Charles M. Fahlbusch, Assistant Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.
Reversed. Because a transcript of this involuntary commitment hearing cannot be produced due to technological failings of the recording equipment at the hearing, and neither the trial court nor the attorneys are able to reconstruct the record of proceedings, a new hearing must be conducted. See Delap v. State, 350 So.2d 462, 463 (Fla. 1977). The state has conceded that a remand is appropriate for that purpose.
GUNTHER, WARNER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.