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Fourth DCA urges Florida Supreme Court to impose page limit on postconviction motions.  [Added 6/16/09]

    Defendant was convicted and sentenced.  His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal.  Defendant then filed a 105-page motion for postconviction relief.  The postconviction trial court summarily denied the claims.  The Fourth DCA affirmed.

    The appellate court, however, also took the occasion to urge the Florida Supreme Court address the length of postconviction motions.  "We also note that this excessively lengthy motion from a conviction entered following a plea demonstrates why a strict page limitation should be imposed on rule 3.850 motions.  See Hedrick v. State, 34 Fla. L.Weekly D593 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 18, 2009) (discussing the need for a page limitation on rule 3.850 motions and citing case law from other states which impose 10 and 20-page limitations).  Trial courts currently have discretion to dismiss excessively lengthy motions and set page limitations, but no rule of procedure currently imposes a specific page limitation.  . . .   Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851(e) places a 75-page limit on death penalty postconviction motions.  If the far more complicated and consequential death penalty postconviction relief motions are pagelimited, then why can a defendant with a considerably shorter sentence with vastly fewer issues be able to file much longer motions?  For the trial and appellate courts, this is an important workload issue, as the number of postconviction relief motions continues to grow.  The supreme court should act to limit the motions filed in rule 3.850 and rule 3.800 cases."  Ezer v. State, __ So.3d ___ (Fla. 4th DCA, No. 4D09-772, 5/27/2009).

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