Faoutas v. State

Here we review the trial court’s denial of appellant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus testing what the trial judge describes as an “informal policy” regarding the refusal by some first appearance magistrates in Leon County to modify a “bail” amount endorsed by another judge on an arrest warrant without the consent of that judge.

Although the issue is moot with respect to the appellant, we address the matter because it involves an unwritten policy or practice that the trial court describes as one that “obviously changes from time to time depending on the judges involved.”

The precise issue…