HALES v. STATE (2018)

Gordon Hales appeals the trial court's order issued on March 2, 2018 denying his petition for writ of habeas corpus relief. Because Hales' petition is an attack upon his conviction for sexual battery upon a child and the life sentence imposed on April 27, 2000 in Broward County case number 95-3149-CF-10A, which was affirmed on direct appeal, see Hales v. State, 792 So.2d 469 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001), the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court was without jurisdiction to rule on the petition. Thus, the trial court should have dismissed Hales' petition without prejudice to allow him to file an appropriate motion or petition in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. See Hales v. State, 957 So.2d 699, 699-70 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007) (affirming the dismissal of Hales' petition for writ of habeas corpus as the Miami-Dade Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to review the legality of Hales' conviction entered in another county, without prejudice to allow Hales to file an appropriate motion in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit); Calloway v. State, 699 So.2d 849, 850 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (concluding that a circuit court has no jurisdiction to review the legality of a conviction and sentence imposed in another circuit court).

We, therefore, reverse the order denying Hales' petition with instructions to the trial court to dismiss the petition without prejudice to allow Hales to file his petition in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

ROTHENBERG, C.J.