5D2021-2985
The Fifth DCA affirmed a cost order that cited statutory but not municipal-ordinance authority for two costs, taking the opportunity to comprehensively trace and clarify decades of inconsistent Florida case law on whether a written criminal cost order must cite the specific statutory or ordinance authority for each cost. The court held that the requirement is grounded in due process, not a free-standing procedural rule, and thus is satisfied where the authority is otherwise evident in the record—even absent express citation in the written order itself.
Key facts
- Defendant was convicted in trial court and assessed criminal costs; the trial court issued a written cost order that cited statutory authority for some costs but cited neither statutory nor municipal-ordinance authority for two other costs.
- Defendant appealed the cost order, arguing that the written order failed to cite specific statutory or ordinance authority for each cost imposed, citing prior Fifth DCA precedent requiring such citations in the written order itself.
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Why it matters
This opinion meaningfully clarifies and narrows a long-standing but loosely reasoned Fifth DCA practice of summarily reversing cost orders for lack of citation to statutory or ordinance authority in the written order… — full analysis with a trial
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