IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
N.L., A CHILD,
Petitioner,
v. Case No. 5D16-4195
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Respondent.
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Opinion filed December 12, 2016
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus,
A Case of Original Jurisdiction.
Robert Wesley, Public Defender, and
Jessica Cahoon, Assistant Public
Defender, Orlando, for Petitioner.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Rebecca Rock
McGuigan, Assistant Attorney General,
Daytona Beach, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM.
We grant N.L.’s petition for an emergency writ of habeas corpus and order her
immediate release from secure detention. N.L. was committed to a non-secure residential
program in one case on November 3, 2016, and in several other cases on November 14,
2016. She remains there despite the requirement that a child “must be removed from
detention within 5 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.”
§ 985.27(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2016). The Department of Children and Families may seek an
order authorizing extended secure detention, up to 15 days after entry of the commitment
order. Id. However, even if such an extension had been ordered, that time limit has
expired as to the November 3 and November 14, 2016 orders of commitment.
We order Respondent to immediately release N.L. from secure detention by 5:00
pm, December 12, 2016.
PETITION GRANTED.
LAWSON, C.J., EVANDER, and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.
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