Anthawn D. Ragan v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledSeptember 2, 2026
Docket3D2026-1267
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed September 2, 2026.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D26-1267
Lower Tribunal No. F94-22517
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Anthawn D. Ragan,
Petitioner,
vs.
State of Florida,
Respondent.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction – Habeas Corpus.
Anthawn Ragan, in proper person.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Lourdes B. Fernandez,
Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Before FERNANDEZ, MILLER, and LOBREE, JJ.
MILLER, J.
Petitioner, Anthawn D. Ragan, seeks relief in habeas corpus alleging
that the trial court improperly imposed sanctions barring him from future pro
se filings challenging his conviction and sentence. Over a decade and a half
ago, the trial court denied Ragan’s postconviction motion for DNA testing
and simultaneously issued a Spencer1 order requiring him to show cause as
to why he should not be prohibited from filing further papers on his own
behalf. But as the State correctly observes, the lower court docket does not
reflect an ensuing prohibition order. Nor has Ragan supplied us with such
an order. See Chestnut v. Dep’t of Corr., 350 So. 3d 445, 446 (Fla. 1st DCA
2022) (dismissing appeal as premature because the notice of appeal did not
attach a “rendered order reviewable on appeal” (citing Fla. R. App. P.
9.020(f) (defining “order” as “[a] decision, order, judgment, decree, or rule of
a lower tribunal, excluding minutes and minute book entries”); id. (h)
(defining “rendition” as the filing of a “signed, written order” with the trial court
clerk); Fla. R. App. P. 9.110(b) (providing for “rendition of the order to be
reviewed” as the point when the 30-day period in which to file notice of
appeal begins to run); id. (l) (allowing for dismissal of an appeal as premature
if it is “filed before rendition of a final order”)); cf. State v. S.M., 131 So. 3d
780, 784 (Fla. 2013) (“A petition for a writ of habeas corpus must be denied
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State v. Spencer, 751 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 1999).
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when the petitioner fails to provide the district court with an adequate record
to review the petition.”); Plumer v. U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 231 So. 3d 512,
513 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017) (“[P]ro se parties are obligated to abide by the
appellate rules.”). Accordingly, we conclude that the petition is, at best,
premature.
Petition dismissed.
3