Florida Department of Corrections v. Watts

This is an interlocutory appeal of an order entered by the trial court during capital post-conviction proceedings. Pursuant to our decision in Trepal v. State, 754 So. 2d 702 (Fla. 2000), we have jurisdiction based on article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution to review interlocutory orders in capital collateral post-conviction proceedings. In Trepal, we adopted a two-prong test for determining whether to grant relief of interlocutory orders in death cases: (1) whether the trial court's order conformed to the essential requirements of law; and (2) whether the order would cause an injury that could not adequately be corrected on appeal from the final order. 754 So. 2d at 707. Because the Florida Department of Corrections (""DOC"") has no other adequate remedy and would suffer irreparable harm if the trial court exceeded its authority in this case, we must determine whether the order conformed to the essential requirements of law. See id.; see also Carter v. State, 706 So. 2d 873, 874 (Fla. 1997) (granting review of a defendant's challenge to an interlocutory order entered during post-conviction proceedings); cf. State Dep't of Children & Families v. Morrison, 727 So. 2d 404 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999).