James Lopez v. State

Annotate this Case

Download PDF

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 JAMES LOPEZ, Appellant, v. Case No. 5D15-2119 STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ________________________________/ Opinion filed June 3, 2016 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Terence R. Perkins, Judge. James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Noel A. Pelella, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Allison Leigh Morris, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. PER CURIAM. James Lopez appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to withdraw his plea. Finding Lopez was improperly denied conflict-free counsel for the hearing of that motion, we reverse. Lopez was charged with a variety of serious offenses in four separate cases. He entered an open plea to those charges and the trial court ordered a pre-sentence investigation because the State sought sentencing under the Prison Releasee Reoffender statute. Prior to sentencing, Lopez filed a pro-se motion to withdraw his plea, alleging that his public defender had coerced him into entering the plea. Lopez was entitled to appointment of conflict-free counsel for the hearing on that motion. See Harvey v. State, 4 So. 3d 1266, 1267 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). REVERSED and REMANDED for a new hearing on the motion to withdraw plea. COHEN, WALLIS and LAMBERT, JJ., concur. 2

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.