Florida Department of Corrections v. Watts

This is an interlocutory appeal of an order entered by the trial court during capital postconviction proceedings. Pursuant to our decision in Trepal v. State, 754 So.2d 702 (Fla.2000), we have jurisdiction based on article V, section 3(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution to review interlocutory orders in capital collateral postconviction proceedings.

In Trepal, we adopted a two-prong test for determining whether to grant relief of interlocutory orders in death cases: (1) whether the trial court’s order conformed to the essential requirements of law; and (2) whether the order would cause an…