Lester v. State

Petitioner, Jose Lopez, seeks certiorari review of the trial courts order of indigency, which ordered the Department of Corrections ("Department") to place a lien on his inmate trust account for the full amount of his court costs and fees and to withdraw and forward any money maintained in the account as provided in section 57.085, Florida Statutes. He argues that, pursuant to Schmidt v. Crusoe, 878 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 2003), his mandamus proceeding was a collateral criminal proceeding to which section 57.085 was inapplicable and, thus, that neither the lien nor the Departments withdrawal and forwarding of money towards payment of the lien was statutorily authorized. Although we agree, petitioner has sought the wrong remedy. Therefore, we sua sponte treat his petition for writ of certiorari as an appeal from the trial courts final order dismissing his mandamus petition, reverse the order of indigency to the extent that it orders the Department to impose a lien on petitioners inmate trust account and to withdraw and forward money maintained in the account pursuant to section 57.085, and remand for further proceedings.