Capias for Arrest for Not Appearing In a Pre-Trial Conference

The facts of Ricks v. State, 961 So. 2d 1093 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007), as set out in the Fifth District's opinion, are as follows: The trial court issued a capias for petitioner's arrest after he failed to appear for his pre-trial conference. The capias provided that petitioner was to be held without bond. Petitioner subsequently surrendered himself voluntarily to the Orange County Jail. Petitioner then filed a motion to set aside the bond forfeiture and to reinstate the previously posted bond or, in the alternative, a motion to set a new bond. In his motion petitioner alleged "his non-appearance was not the product of a willful decision on his part to disobey the directive by this Court, but rather the product of an oversight and poor communication with the Office of the Public Defender." This motion, as well as petitioner's renewed motion to set a new bond, was denied without a hearing. the trial court's written order included the notation "multiple prior F.T.A.'s." Id. at 1093.