Baker v. Department of Corrections

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
ELTON LEE BAKER,
Appellant,
v. Case No. 5D16-3334
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
AND STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellees.
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Opinion filed April 28, 2017
Appeal from the Circuit Court
for Marion County,
Lisa D. Herndon, Judge.
Elton Lee Baker, Lowell, pro se.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Robin A. Compton,
Assistant Attorney General, Daytona
Beach, for Appellee, State of Florida.
No Appearance for Other Appellee.
WALLIS, J.
Elton Lee Baker appeals the Marion County trial court's denial of his Emergency
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Baker was convicted and sentenced in Sumter County
to a twenty-year prison sentence for attempted sexual battery upon a child under twelve
years of age and attempted lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under twelve years
of age. In his petition, Baker challenged his convictions and sentences on the basis that
the State failed to amend the charging information to reflect his conviction for a lesser-
included offense. Baker also challenged the constitutionality of sections 749.011 and
800.04, Florida Statutes (2007), because they require no mens rea element.
When a petitioner challenges the validity of his or her conviction or sentence,
jurisdiction in habeas proceedings lies with the trial court that imposed the judgment and
sentence. See Sheriff v. Moore, 781 So. 2d 1146, 1147 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001); Frederick v.
State, 714 So. 2d 1043, 1043 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998) ("Habeas petitions directed to trial
issues must be brought in the circuit court for the county where the trial occurred."). The
State properly concedes that the Marion County court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the
merits of Baker's petition, which attacked his Sumter County convictions and sentences.
Accordingly, we quash the trial court's order and remand with instructions to transfer the
petition to Sumter County. See Bush v. State, 945 So. 2d 1207, 1214–15 (Fla. 2006).
ORDER QUASHED; REMANDED with Instructions.
BERGER, J., and JACOBUS, B.W., Senior Judge, concur.
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