It has been a longstanding practice of the Florida Supreme Court to allow appellate briefs filed in cases relating to imposition of death penalty to exceed the standard page limits.  See In Re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.210, 40 Fla. L. Weekly S135a (Fla. March 12, 2015).  This practice, however, has been implemented on a case by case basis.  Id.  The Florida Supreme Court today has amended Fla. R. App. P. 9.210 and reduced its practice to code. Id.

It is now set forth in the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure that longer appellate briefs in cases relating to imposition of the death penalty are permitted. Id.  The Florida Supreme Court new subdivision (a)(6) specifically states:

(6) In an appeal from a judgment of conviction imposing a sentence of death or in an appeal from an order ruling on, after an evidentiary hearing, an initial postconviction motion filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, the initial and answer briefs shall not exceed 100 pages in length, provided that if a cross-appeal has been filed, the answer brief/initial brief on cross-appeal shall not exceed 150 pages. Reply briefs shall not exceed 35 pages in length, provided that if a cross-appeal has been filed, the reply brief shall not exceed 100 pages, not more than 35 of which shall be devoted to argument replying to the answer portion of the appellee/cross-appellant’s brief. Cross-reply briefs shall not exceed 35 pages. In an appeal from an order summarily denying an initial postconviction motion filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, ruling on a successive postconviction motion filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.851, finding that a defendant is intellectually disabled as a bar to execution under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.203, or ruling on a motion for postconviction DNA testing filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.853, the initial and answer briefs shall not exceed 75 pages in length. Reply briefs shall not exceed 25 pages in length. The tables of contents and citations, the certificates of service and compliance, and the signature block for the brief’s author, shall be excluded from the computation. Longer briefs may be permitted by the court.

See In Re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.210, 40 Fla. L. Weekly S135a (Fla. March 12, 2015).