Kolb v. State

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida Opinion filed October 18, 2017. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. ________________ No. 3D17-1334 Lower Tribunal No. 17-2416 ________________ Kenneth Wayne Kolb, Petitioner, vs. The State of Florida, Respondent. A Case of Original Jurisdiction — Petition for Belated Appeal. Kenneth Wayne Kolb, in proper person. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Carrol Y. Cherry Eaton (Fort Lauderdale), Senior Assistant Attorney General, for respondent. Before ROTHENBERG, C.J., and SCALES and LUCK, JJ. SCALES, J. Petitioner Kenneth Wayne Kolb filed two petitions in the trial court. His first petition was for a writ of prohibition, which sought to prohibit prison officials from allegedly retaliating against him for filing grievances at the Dade Correctional Institution. Kolb had recently been transferred to this Miami-Dade correctional facility to be closer to his family in advance of his scheduled release from prison, and Kolb alleged that prison officials intended to transfer him back to a prison upstate in violation of his constitutional rights. Kolb’s second petition was for a writ of mandamus, which sought to compel the Miami-Dade County Clerk to process Kolb’s application for a name change, notwithstanding a Florida statute that conditions such an application on the restoration of the applicant’s civil rights. § 68.07(3)(l), Fla. Stat. (2016). The trial court denied both petitions without hearing, rendering its orders on March 31, 2017. Kolb’s notice of appeal, which appears to relate only to the order denying his petition for writ of prohibition, was received by prison officials on May 19, 2017, and forwarded to this Court on May 24, 2017. Kolb concedes that he filed his appeal after the thirty-day appeal period of Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.110(b), and petitions this Court to accept a belated appeal pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.141(c). Both of Kolb’s petitions below were civil in nature. Rule 9.141(c)’s belated appeal procedures relate to criminal proceedings. We lack jurisdiction to grant a 2 belated appeal in a civil proceeding and, consequently, we dismiss Kolb’s petition. Hollingsworth v. Szczecina, 731 So. 2d 790, 791 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). Petition dismissed. 3