County Criminal Division D Procedures
Attorneys, at all times, shall conduct themselves consistent with the Guidelines for Professional Conduct and abide by the requirements of Administrative Order 2021-055.
E-FILING INFORMATION:
Information about E-Filing is available from the Hillsborough County Clerk Website.
- Steps to Upload a Proposed Order to the Florida ePortal
- Viewing Filed Documents (HOVER)
- The Hillsborough Online Viewing of Electronic Records (HOVER) provides remote viewing of court records maintained by the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court, as authorized by Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order 15-18. In this site, Attorneys of Record and Self-Represented Litigants (Pro Se) will have access to search case indexes and view case progress dockets not sealed or made confidential by Florida Rules of Judicial Procedure or court order.
COMMUNICATION WITH CHAMBERS:
The Judicial Assistant is not permitted to answer legal questions, give advice, or explain your situation to the Judge. Your opportunity to speak to the Judge happens in court only, when all parties are given the opportunity to be present and heard. Although the Judicial Assistant may send communications outside of business hours, she might not respond to incoming communications.
Communications and submissions of documents via email are acceptable and preferred. However, all motions and pleadings must be filed with the Clerk of Court. Substantive ex-parte communications sent to the Court, regardless of how they are sent, will be filed in the court file. Communications solely related to the scheduling of hearings are not substantive. Please be advised that all email communications sent to the Court are subject to public records requests.
ALL CASES ARE IN PERSON:
Due to the disparity of practices amid procedures in the various courtrooms within the Criminal Division of the County Court, and in an effort to promote uniformity, consistency and professionalism within the division, the Court hereby enters this Pretrial Order, which shall, consistent with the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, govern the manner and methods by which attorneys shall practice in this Court. For good cause shown, this Court may modify or waive these procedures on an individual basis.
SCHEDULING:
To schedule a hearing, please email the Judicial Assistant at Merissa.clark@fljud13.org. You must have all parties copied on the email, and please put the Defendant’s name and case number in the subject line. Failure to do so will result in a delay in response.
NOTICES OF HEARING:
Contact JA by email copying all parties/counsel for dates. When date is agreed to and the JA responds to the email, you have 48 HOURS to file your Notice of Hearing. If the Notice of Hearing is not filed within 48 hours, the date will no longer be available.
MOTIONS:
MOTIONS THAT COUNSEL WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HEARD MUST BE FILED BEFORE ASKING FOR A HEARING DATE. All pretrial motions shall be in writing and heard prior to the date of the pretrial conference, except where otherwise specified. No motion, other than a legitimate emergency motion, will be set for a hearing unless the motion is electronically filed with the clerk prior to contacting the Judicial Assistant. Motions can be set for a hearing by contacting Judge Rich’s Judicial Assistant, Merissa Clark, at merissa.clark@fljud13.org. Please include the case number and defendant’s name in the subject line when requesting a court date.
After filing a motion, the moving party shall contact opposing counsel to determine if the matter can be resolved by a stipulated order. This does not pertain to Violations of Probation or Probation Motions. After discussing the matter with opposing counsel, if a stipulation cannot be obtained, the moving attorney shall email a copy of the motion to the Judicial Assistant and request a hearing time.
MOTION TO CONTINUE:
Any motion for continuance SHALL state whether any prior motion for continuance has been filed and shall, as with any other motion, be in WRITING and be set and heard prior to the trial date.
DISCOVERY MOTIONS AND MOTIONS IN LIMINE:
All Motions in Limine and all motions pertaining to discovery disputes SHALL contain a statement by the moving party that a good faith attempt to resolve the matter without Court involvement has been made and SHALL describe the manner in which the attempt was made. Motions to Compel Discovery should be filed within 10 days after the date Discovery is due. Motions to Compel More Adequate Responses to Discovery should be filed within 10 days of receipt of the alleged incomplete Discovery. Lack of diligence in pursuing remedies for discovery disputes will be considered in determining whether to grant a continuance or to which party a continuance should be charged.
COMPETENCY MOTIONS:
All motions in which a party is requesting the court to appoint a doctor for a Court Ordered Forensic Competency Evaluation shall be filed with the Clerk of Court. Once the motion has been filed, the Judicial Assistant can be emailed for a court date. If the Court decides an evaluation is appropriate at the motion hearing, the Counsel requesting the evaluation shall be responsible for uploading the Order to the Court’s work queue in the ePortal for signature.
All pretrial motions to suppress, motions to dismiss, motions in limine requiring evidentiary hearings, and motions to exclude shall be filed and served upon opposing counsel at least 14 days prior to the hearing date.
CASE LAW: All cases, statutes, rules or other citations of authority a party wishes the Court to consider SHALL be provided to the Court at least two business days prior to the hearing on the motion. Cases and other citations will be cited in the motion.
VIOLATION OF PROBATION HEARINGS AND PROBATION MOTIONS:
VOPs will be heard Mondays starting at 9am, on non-trial weeks. On occasion, VOPs will be heard Thursdays starting at 1:30pm. The Court will not accept stipulated orders to withdraw VOP warrants or set bond. You will need to file your motion and email the Judicial Assistant for a court date to address this. Counsel shall have the defendant’s jail credit ready before the case is called in court. All motions pertaining to probation will also be set for a hearing.
VOP EVIDENTIARY HEARINGS:
All evidence, orders, judgments and other documents you wish to use or have entered into evidence at the VOP hearing must be submitted via E-filing at least four business days prior to the date of the scheduled hearing. Notice and copies should also be emailed to opposing counsel and to the Court. Any updates to the VOP affidavit regarding completed conditions must be provided to probation at least four business days prior to the date of the scheduled hearing.
ARRAIGNMENTS: Any case set for arraignment in which a Notice of Appearance has been filed by private counsel will be set for a disposition hearing if a Waiver of Speedy Trial is also filed. If a Waiver of Speedy Trial is not filed with a Notice of Appearance, the case will be automatically set for pretrial conference and a trial date. Unrepresented defendants who are not in custody will appear in court personally.
DISPOSITIONS: Attorneys and their client(s) are expected to attend disposition hearings. If the cases are not being resolved, attorneys have the option to ask for a new date in court or complete the continuance form for a new disposition or trial date. Attorneys who are not on the disposition form blast list may contact the Judicial Assistant and request to be put on the list in order to receive a form by email. An attorney failing to attend a disposition hearing without obtaining coverage and/or contacting the Judicial Assistant, could result in the case being set for trial and may result in a warrant being issued for the arrest of the defendant.
PLEAS:
ALL PLEAS ARE IN PERSON, UNLESS A PLEA IN ABSENTIA HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BY THE COURT. Negotiated pleas should be conveyed to, and fully discussed with, the defendant prior to announcing the plea in Court. Such discussion should include the minimum and maximum penalties and the issues covered in Rule 3.172. If counsel wishes to address the Court on any issue regarding the plea, this should be done at the time the plea is first announced, not after the plea colloquy has been concluded.
The Court regularly schedules changes of pleas, and will conduct them on its next available docket, if possible. Please email the Judicial Assistant to schedule Change of Pleas. Out-of-custody defendants accepting a term of incarceration must appear in person for their plea.
A written plea in absentia must be presented to the court that comports with the requirements of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172. If a plea being entered is for an enhanceable offense, the written colloquy must include an acknowledgement that the defendant has been advised of the enhancement ramifications for said offense should the defendant reoffend in the future for that offense. PIAs for any enhanceable offenses, and in any case in which the defendant is being placed on probation, must include, in addition to the plea forms: full fingerprints and a written waiver of appearance in court. A plea of guilty or no contest to a criminal offense will not be accepted based strictly on counsel stating that they have their client’s authority to enter the plea when the defendant is not present and counsel does not have a written plea in absentia to present to the court.
PRETRIAL: The defendant is required to appear at all Pretrial Conference hearings, unless a written waiver has been previously filed with the Court, or a warrant may be issued for the defendant. In certain circumstances, the Court may waive the appearance of the defendant without a waiver, but this is on a case by case basis.
TRIAL: This Court expects all parties to be prepared and ready for trial on the morning of the trial date. Defendants who are late to court on trial morning should expect a warrant to be issued. All objections made during trial, or any other evidentiary proceeding shall be supported by specific statutory authority or case law, which shall be provided, if requested by the Court, at the time of the objection.
JURY SELECTION AND TRIAL SUBPOENAS:
County Criminal Division D will conduct Jury Selection on Tuesdays. Please ensure your trial subpoenas are for the period beginning on Division D’s jury pick day and ending the following Monday.
JURY INSTRUCTIONS:
The State shall send proposed jury instructions to the division email no later than Monday at 3:00pm if your jury pick will be Tuesday. Unless specifically discussed at pretrial, jury selection in Division D is set to occur Tuesday at 8:30am during the trial week. The parties shall attempt to agree on the jury instructions, before submitting them to the Court. If the parties cannot agree on the instructions, they should specifically indicate those that have not been agreed to at the beginning of the page of the non-agreed to jury instruction. The Defense may submit any specially requested jury instructions that have not been agreed to by the State at the same time the State is required to provide jury instructions. If you have not resolved your case at the Last Call docket, that takes place following pretrial and the Monday before jury pick, you should anticipate going to trial.
WITNESS LIST:
At the same time jury instructions are submitted, counsel for the State and the Defendant shall furnish to each other, and the Court and clerk, and file via ePortal, a list of the names of all witnesses who are expected to testify at the trial of this cause (preferably in the numerical order in which they are to be called).
EXHIBITS:
Exhibits shall be pre-marked sequentially and each page of an exhibit numbered. The parties shall attempt to agree to as many exhibits as possible prior to the start of the trial. At or before jury selection, counsel for the State and counsel for the Defendant shall furnish each other, and the Court and clerk, and file via e-portal, an Exhibit List with exhibits numbered that correspond to all exhibits that have and are to be marked and introduced into evidence at the trial.
EXHIBIT/EVIDENCE VIEW:
Parties are expected to review exhibits with witnesses prior to the beginning of a hearing or trial. No hearing or trial shall be delayed or continued beyond the scheduled starting time because an attorney needs to confer with a witness or review evidence with a witness.