Summary
finding the state has "non-reviewable" discretion to terminate a defendant's PTI at any time, even after the program has begun
Summary of this case from State v. SimonsOpinion
No. 95-770.
June 12, 1996.
Appeal from the Circuit Court, Dade County, Maxine Cohen Lando, J.
Ana M. Jhones, Ft. Lauderdale, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Roberta G. Mandel, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and NESBITT and FLETCHER, JJ.
The defendant was charged by information on April 12, 1993 with carrying a concealed firearm. He was referred to pretrial intervention from which he was terminated at the state's election. As a consequence, he then entered a plea of nolo contendere for which he received withholding of adjudication, credit for time served, and forfeiture of the firearm. He is currently in deportation proceedings by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. On the assumption that he should have been either permitted to complete the pretrial intervention program or receive a meaningful hearing, he filed this petition for writ of error coram nobis which the trial judge dismissed. Since it is clear that a defendant may be subjected at the option of the state to pretrial intervention pursuant to section 948.08, Florida Statutes (1995), with one notable exception, the trial judge correctly observed that the state's discretion is entirely non-reviewable. State v. Turner, 636 So.2d 815 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994). Since this was the only matter before the trial judge, the order under review is affirmed.