Benoit v. Hoffman
Benoit sought habeas relief after the judge presiding over his new misdemeanor case revoked his bond in an unrelated, earlier felony case assigned to a different judge. The Second DCA granted the petition, holding that under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131(d), a first appearance judge in a new case lacks authority to modify or revoke pretrial release conditions in a separate, already-assigned case absent one of the rule's specified exceptions.
Key facts
- Benoit was arrested on a new misdemeanor charge and brought before a first appearance judge, who revoked his bond in a separate, earlier felony case that was assigned to a different judge.
- The trial court lacked authority under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131(d) to revoke pretrial release conditions in the earlier case because the first appearance judge was not the judge who originally imposed those conditions, was not the assigned trial judge in that case, and was not authorized by the original judge.
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Why it matters
This opinion extends the reasoning of Little v. Gualtieri beyond the emergency-duty-judge context to a common recurring scenario: a first appearance judge handling a defendant's new arrest attempting to revoke bond in… — full analysis with a trial
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