Touchton-Williams v. State of Florida

Summary

The First District Court of Appeal of Florida reversed and remanded an order denying Alexis Touchton-Williams’s Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 postconviction motion. The court held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to re-enter a corrective order before issuance of the appellate mandate, and that a later nunc pro tunc order could not cure the jurisdictional defect.

Holdings

1. The trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter the corrective order before the First District's mandate issued because the mandate is the procedural vehicle by which jurisdiction transfers back to the trial court.
2. A nunc pro tunc order could not cure the defect because the error involved the trial court's creation of a new corrective order while it lacked jurisdiction, rather than an omitted record entry memorializing an act previously taken.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court had jurisdiction to enter a corrective order complying with the First District's prior decision before the appellate mandate issued.
2. Whether a later nunc pro tunc order could retroactively cure the trial court's lack of jurisdiction when the corrective order was entered.
3. Whether the order denying the motion to strike could stay the proceedings retroactively after Appellant had filed the appeal.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded