Insane Prisoner Cannot Be Executed by The United States Supreme Court held the Eighth Amendment prohibits the state from inflicting the penalty of death upon a prisoner who is insane, and that Florida Statute § 922.07 was inadequate to assure adequate facts are developed to make a determination of a …
Retroactive Application of Florida Sentencing Guidelines Violates Ex Post Facto Clause by Retroactive Application of Florida Sentencing Guidelines Violates Ex Post Facto Clause The United States Supreme Court held that the use of Florida's revised sentencing guidelines retroactively when those guidelines change the legal consequences of acts committed before their …
US Supreme Court Held Laws Targeting Religion Are Unconstitutional; Santeria a Religion by US Supreme Court Held Laws Targeting Religion Are Unconstitutional; Santeria a Religion The US Supreme Court held that no law can be enacted that denies people their right to religious freedom. The free Exercise Clause protects religious …
US Supreme Court Held Officials Are Qualifiedly Immune From Suit Unless They Violate Clearly Established Law by US Supreme Court Held Officials Are Qualifiedly Immune From Suit Unless They Violate Clearly Established Law The US Supreme Court held that an official's qualified immunity defense depends upon the objective reasonableness of …
$200,000 Verdict for Florida Prisoner in Failure to Treat Epilepsy by The plaintiff in this case was arrested and housed in Florida's Broward County Jail. Upon his arrest, he had a history of epilepsy and brought his medication with him to the jail. A doctor employed by defendant Prison Health …
Florida: Prisoner Raped In County Jail Awarded $65,950 by In this case published by the Florida Jury Verdict Reporter in April 1990, the plaintiff, a prisoner who was raped by another prisoner, was awarded $65,950. On November 23, 1987, while imprisoned in the medium-security section of the Pinellas County (Florida) …
Florida: County Prisoner Slipped On Wet Floor, Awarded $6,000 by On August 18, 1994, a former prisoner in Florida's Escambia County Jail was awarded $6,000 for injuries she sustained when she slipped and fell on the wet floor in a holding area. Plaintiff, Sandra James, a prisoner in the jail's …
Warm, Sanitary Condition Required in Cells; Fla. Jail Regulations Fail to Create Liberty Interest; Short Denial of Court Access Permissible by Warm, Sanitary Condition Required in Cells; Fla. Jail Regulations Fail to Create Liberty Interest; Short Denial of Court Access Permissible The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held a prisoner …
Mailbox Rule Applies to Florida Grievance Procedure by Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the "mailbox rule" applies to the Florida Department of Corrections' Inmate Grievance Procedure. The mailbox rule holds that an appeal or document to be filed with the courts is deemed filed "at the moment …
Florida Prisoner's Have Right to Bring Civil Actions by The Florida Second District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's order that held a prisoner endures "civil death" upon conviction, loses his right to sue under § 944.292 (1983), Florida statutes, and abated the prisoner's civil tort suit. The court …
FL Prisoner Entitled to Evidence Production and to Be Present at Disciplinary Hearing by Florida's First District Court of Appeal held that the failure to produce an object that was allegedly a weapon when the prisoner's defense was that the object was not a weapon, entitled the prisoner mandamus relief. …
FL Prisoner's Review of Mandamus Denial Requires Writ of Certiorari by The Florida supreme court affirmed the First District Court of Appeals order that held review of a denial of a writ of mandamus comes under a petition for writ of certiorari rather than a direct appeal, which was the …
Florida Juvenile Detainee Awarded $100,000 for Failure to Protect by The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a jury's award of damages sustained as a result of a sexual assault upon a juvenile detainee at a Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services (HRS) facility. HRS was found liable for …
Incarceration Term alone Insufficient to Terminate Florida Prisoner's Parental Rights by Incarceration Term alone Insufficient to Terminate Florida Prisoner's Parental Rights The Florida Supreme Court has held that a trial court, when assessing a petition to terminate a prisoner's parental rights, must apply a forward-looking view when determining if the …
$106,500 Awarded to Whistle Blowing FL Jail Nurse by A jury in Palm Beach County, Florida, entered a verdict in favor of Angela Wilson, who claimed that she was fired as an employee of the Palm Beach County Health Department for revealing illegal activities at her job. Wilson, who was …
Isolated Incident of Legal Mail Tampering and Access to Deputy Sheriff not Clear Right for Injunctive Relief by Isolated Incident of Legal Mail Tampering and Access to Deputy Sheriff not Clear Right for Injunctive Relief Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal has reversed an Okeechobee County Judge's order granting two …
CMS Doctor Not Liable for Delaying Bone Graft by The plaintiff saw a specialist who said he needed a bone graft procedure immediately, and the prison doctor defendant recommended that he get it. Nine months later, the same specialist said there was no need for further evaluation or surgery, and …
State Court Proceedings Limit Federal Injunctive Suits by A challenge to practices in the state foster care system is barred by Younger abstention, given that state courts exercise jurisdiction over persons in foster care on a continuing basis. At 1332: "In suits for prospective injunctive relief, courts have been troubled …
Florida Lethal Injection Challenge Rejected by The plaintiff's § 1983 challenge to execution by lethal injection is the functional equivalent of a habeas corpus petition--in this case, a successive one, for which the plaintiff had not obtained permission from the Court of Appeals. The grant of certiorari in Nelson v. …
Student Strip Search Upheld Due To Vulgar Leaflet by Student Strip Search Upheld Due To Vulgar Leaflet Strip searches of arrestees must be supported by reasonable suspicion of weapons or contraband. There was reasonable cause to strip search a high school student who was arrested after helping create and circulate …
