In the matter of Deras vs State of Florida, the district court overturned the circuit court's order denying the defendant's motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to FRCP 3.850.
Defendant was arrested for & charged with a single charge of DUI manslaughter and 1 count of leaving an accident scene involving a fatality. The defendant entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to eleven years in state prison. The criminal charges stemmed from two separate car accidents. The 1st accident involved only damage to property. The defendant fled the scene of the 1st accident & approximately five minutes afterwards was involved in another car accident, this time involving a fatality.
The defendant submitted a motion for postconviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and insufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for the crimes charged. The motion was summarily denied by the trial judge. Following three additional motions for postconviction relief, the defendant filed the instant motion, once again alleging that evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for the offenses to which the defendant pled guilty. The circuit court denied this motion as untimely.
The district court of appeal recognized that defendant advanced the exact same argument in his previous motion and that relief was denied. The 3rd District Court of Appeal stated that, nevertheless, defendant's claim should be revisited under a manifest injustice exception.
The district court held that if the defendant fled the scene of the 1st accident, which only involved damage to property, & defendant didn't flee the location of the second accident, in which there was a death, then to deny defendant relief would result in manifest injustice. If the defendant pled to a criminal charge to which there wasn't a factual basis, his attorney did not provide effective assistance of counsel resulting in manifest injustice.
The district court of appeal stated that if the defendant did not flee from the 2nd accident, he ought to be permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty as to the second charge, the conviction should be reduced to leaving the location of an accident which involved property damage, the court should rescore the offenses, and the sentences reconsidered.
