...While Florida law has long recognized that a defendant may argue as an affirmative defense at trial that his or her use of force was legally justified, section 776.032 contemplates that a defendant who establishes entitlement to the statutory immunity will not be subjected to trial. Section 776.032(1) expressly grants defendants a substantive right to not be arrested, detained, charged, or prosecuted as a result of the use of legally justified force. The statute does not merely provide that a defendant cannot be convicted as a result of legally justified force.
This plain reading of section 776.032 compels us to reject the State's contention that a defendant must raise a pretrial claim of immunity only in a rule 3.190(c)(4) motion to dismiss. To be entitled to dismissal under rule 3.190(c)(4), "the defendant must 'demonstrate that the undisputed facts fail to establish a prima facie case.' " Dorelus v. State, 747 So.2d 368, 373 (Fla.1999) (quoting State v. Pollock, 600 So.2d 1313, 1314 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)). If the State specifically alleges that the material facts are in dispute or that the facts refute the defendant's claim, the motion to dismiss must be denied. State v. Kalogeropolous, 758 So.2d 110, 112 (Fla.2000). Section 776.032 does not limit its grant of immunity to cases where the material facts are undisputed. Thus, treating motions to dismiss pursuant to section 776.032 in the same manner as rule 3.190(c)(4) motions would not provide criminal defendants the opportunity to establish immunity and avoid trial that was contemplated by the Legislature.
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(b)—rather than rule 3.190(c)(4)—provides the appropriate procedural vehicle for the consideration of a claim of section 776.032 immunity. Rule 3.190(b) provides generally that "[a]ll defenses available to a defendant by plea, other than not guilty, shall be made only by motion to dismiss the indictment or information." Dennis's failure to identify the pertinent subdivision of rule 3.190 in his motions to dismiss did not foreclose Dennis's argument that section 776.032 required the trial court to make a pretrial evidentiary determination concerning the applicability of the statutory immunity. See, e.g., Steinhorst v. State, 636 So.2d 498, 500 (Fla.1994) (concluding that trial court should have treated criminal defendant's motion, improperly designated as being filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540, as being properly filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850); cf. Barrett v. State, 965 So.2d 1260, 1261 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007) ("Article V, section 2(a) of the Florida Constitution requires that no cause be dismissed because an improper remedy has been sought. Accordingly, the trial court should have considered whether Barrett had alleged sufficient facts to warrant relief and, if so, treated his motion as if the proper remedy had been sought.").
The Florida appellate courts have interpreted rule 3.190—in a variety of contexts—as granting trial courts authority to receive evidence to assist in ruling on motions to dismiss. For example, the appellate courts have approved the trial courts' use of evidentiary hearings to rule on motions to dismiss on the basis of transactional or use immunity, prosecutorial misconduct, and selective prosecution. See, e.g., State ex rel. Hough v. Popper, 287 So.2d 282, 285 (Fla.1973) (issuing writ to compel trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine if the transactional immunity or use immunity provisions of section 914.04, Florida Statutes, were applicable); Owen v. State, 443 So.2d 173, 175 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (holding that trial court had discretion to conduct an evidentiary hearing on a motion to dismiss alleging prosecutorial misconduct and selective prosecution); State v. Yatman, 320 So.2d 401, 402 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975) (directing trial court to allow defendant to file a written motion to dismiss and to "hold a hearing to determine the issues created by said motion").
We also reject the State's contention that the pretrial hearing on immunity in a criminal case should test merely whether the State has probable cause to believe the defendant's use of force was not legally justified. Prior to the enactment of chapter 2005-27, Laws of Florida (2005), Florida law defined certain types of justified force, see §§ 776.12, 776.031, Fla. Stat. (2004), and the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure mandated that a trial judge make a pretrial nonadversarial probable cause determination either before or shortly after a defendant was taken into custody, see Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.133 (2004). "It is a basic rule of statutory construction that 'the Legislature does not intend to enact useless provisions, and courts should avoid readings that would render part of a statute meaningless.' " Martinez v. State, 981 So.2d 449, 452 (Fla.2008) (quoting State v. Bodden, 877 So.2d 680, 686 (Fla.2004)). Accordingly, the grant of immunity from "criminal prosecution" in section 776.032 must be interpreted in a manner that provides the defendant with more protection from prosecution for a justified use of force than the probable cause determination previously provided to the defendant by rule.....
