Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed January 5, 2022.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D19-2369
Lower Tribunal No. F13-20045
________________
Justin C. Allen,
Appellant,
vs.
The State of Florida,
Appellee.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Jose L.
Fernandez, Judge.
Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and John Eddy Morrison,
Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and David Llanes, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellee.
Before LOGUE, SCALES, and GORDO, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
In this appeal from a conviction and sentence following a probation
violation, the issue is whether the trial court erred by not ordering an
additional competency hearing sua sponte. “A trial court’s failure to hold a
competency hearing is subject to the abuse of discretion standard.” Wall v.
State,
326 So. 3d 1065, 1070 (Fla. 2021).
Prior competency issues raised by defense counsel resulted in findings
of incompetency until, after the passage of time, the Appellant’s competency
was diagnosed as being restored by three medical professionals. At the
consequent probation violation hearing, the Appellant made comments
which he now contends should have alerted the trial court to the need for
further competency evaluations. At the time, however, these statements did
not cause the trial court or defense counsel to question the Appellant’s
competency. The record reflects that the Appellant at the revocation hearing
never stated that he did not understand the proceeding. To the contrary, he
acknowledged that a plea had been offered, briefly spoke well about defense
counsel, and accepted his sentence.
This case ultimately turns on the trial court’s evaluation of the
Appellant’s conduct and statements during the evidentiary hearing. These
matters take meaning from their context, which the trial court is best situated
to judge. In these circumstances, we cannot find that the trial court abused
2
its discretion. Id.; see also Dessaure v. State,
55 So. 3d 478, 482–83 (Fla.
2010).
Affirmed.
3
