Eugene C. Britt v. Mark S. Inch
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledDecember 2, 2020
Docket3D20-1540
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed December 2, 2020.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D20-1540
Lower Tribunal No. 07-55389
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Eugene C. Britt,
Petitioner,
vs.
Mark S. Inch, et al.,
Respondents.
A Case of Original Jurisdiction โ Habeas Corpus.
Eugene C. Britt, in proper person.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Michael W. Mervine, Assistant
Attorney General, for respondent The State of Florida.
Before FERNANDEZ, LOGUE, and LOBREE, JJ.
LOGUE, J.
Eugene C. Britt petitions for a writ of habeas corpus for his immediate release
based upon a claim that his conviction and sentence are illegal. Although Mr. Britt
is currently in custody at the Everglades Correctional Institution, in Miami-Dade
County, he was sentenced by the Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in
Brevard County. See State v. Britt, No. 2007-CF-055389 (Fla. 18th Cir. Ct. June 25,
2009).
โThe circuit court of the county in which a defendant is incarcerated has
jurisdiction to consider a petition for writ of habeas corpus when the claims raised
in the petition concern issues regarding incarceration, but not when the claims attack
the validity of the judgment or sentence.โ Broom v. State, 907 So. 2d 1261, 1262
(Fla. 3d DCA 2005) (citing cases). โOnly the court in which the defendant was
convicted and sentenced has jurisdiction to consider collateral attacks on a judgment
or sentence, and such an attack must be brought pursuant to Rule 3.800 or 3.850, not
by petition for writ of habeas corpus.โ Id. See also Peoples v. State, 260 So. 3d 365,
367 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018).
Accordingly, we direct the Clerk to transfer this petition to the Circuit Court
of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in Brevard County, Florida.
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