FL H6005

Appropriates $10 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Corrections to compensate Maury Hernandez, a former Broward County Sheriff's deputy who was shot in the head on August 6, 2007, by probationer David Maldonado, leaving him totally and permanently disabled with permanent brain injuries.

Maldonado, a convicted felon on 24-month probation, admitted to probation officers on three separate occasions (April, May, and June 2007) that he illegally possessed a firearm and used drugs, but the Department of Corrections failed to report any of these violations to the state attorney or presiding circuit judge as required by its zero-tolerance policy and state law.

Both the Broward County Sheriff's investigation and the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office concluded that had Maldonado's violations been properly reported, he would have been jailed without bail and would not have been free to shoot Deputy Hernandez.

A prior lawsuit under s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, was dismissed in January 2016 because the court held the Department of Corrections owed no specific legal duty of care to Deputy Hernandez, leaving him without a legal or administrative remedy.

Attorney fees are capped at 25% of the awarded amount, any state lien interests arising from Hernandez's treatment and care are intended to be waived, and the $10 million is intended as sole compensation for all present and future claims related to this incident.