CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2017 WL 634734, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 2069
...why the trial judge seemed puzzled when the State asked for a “venire fee in the amount of $1,000.” 1 THE COURT: I’m sorry, what type of fee? [THE STATE]: A venire fee. THE COURT: Venire? [THE STATE]: Yes, ma’am. Pursuant to Florida Statute 939.02....
...(2016) (“If a special venire be summoned, the party demanding the jury shall deposit sufficient money with the clerk to pay the jury fees which shall be taxed as costs if he or she prevails.”). The State claims the authority for a venire fee comes from section 939.02, Florida Statutes, which says: “All costs accruing before a committing trial court judge shall be taxed against the defendant on conviction or estreat of recognizance.” § 939.02, Fla....
...and no right to or liability for costs exists in the absence of statutory authorization.” Bradshaw,
638 So.2d at 1025 (citations omitted). Given that “common law” costs in criminal proceedings don’t exist, it would be a stretch to interpret section
939.02 as granting wholesale authority to impose any and all categories of costs even if they are not specifically identified in any statute. We note that no recorded case in section
939.02’s century-old existence has ever cited it as the authority for doing so. Section
939.02 does not set out any specific cost or fee, let alone a “venire fee.” Instead, it is best understood as a procedural statute describing when and under what circumstances all statutorily authorized costs may be imposed....
...1st DCA 2010) (“The only limitations that have been recognized by Florida courts in construing the term ‘cost of prosecution’ are that courts have not permitted costs of judicial administration to be assessed.”). We see no basis for interpreting section
939.02 as allowing jury or “venire” costs that are disallowed under section
938.27(1)....
...uance and Brown for the second (he’d hired a lawyer to replace the public defender), which the State did not oppose. Nothing reflects that a jury was empaneled either time. .The phrase "estreat of recognizance” is an antiquity, appearing only in section 939.02, which took root in 1873....
