City of West Palm Beach v. Chatman

112 So. 3d 723, 2013 WL 1890698, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 7360
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 8, 2013
DocketNo. 4D11-2248
StatusPublished

This text of 112 So. 3d 723 (City of West Palm Beach v. Chatman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of West Palm Beach v. Chatman, 112 So. 3d 723, 2013 WL 1890698, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 7360 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

LEVINE, J.

The issue presented for our review is whether a municipal ordinance criminalizing “loitering with intent to commit prostitution” is facially unconstitutional. We find that the ordinance is overbroad and vague, and as such, we affirm the trial court which correctly found this ordinance unconstitutional.

Appellee was charged with violating the City of West Palm Beach ordinance regarding “Loitering with the Intent to Commit Prostitution.”1 In this case, a law enforcement officer from the West Palm Beach Police Department observed appel-lee “standing in an area known for prostitution activity dressed as a woman.” When asked by the officer what appellee was doing in the area, appellee replied that he was “waiting for his ride.”2 Appellee was charged with violating the city’s ordinance prohibiting “loitering with the intent to commit prostitution.” Appellee moved to dismiss the charge claiming that the [726]*726ordinance was facially unconstitutional. The county court granted appellee’s motion to dismiss. The county court certified that the issue emanating from this case was of great public importance pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.160. This court accepted jurisdiction pursuant to that rule. The city’s appeal ensues.

We review the facial constitutionality of a municipal ordinance under the de novo standard. State v. J.P., 907 So.2d 1101, 1107 (Fla.2004).

We begin our analysis by reviewing the seminal cases: Wyche v. State, 619 So.2d 231 (Fla.1993), and Holliday v. City of Tampa, 619 So.2d 244 (Fla.1993).

In Wyche, the Florida Supreme Court found that the City of Tampa’s ordinance prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution was unconstitutional as “too vague because a violation of the law is determined based on law enforcement officers’ discretion” and as overbroad by “implicating] protected freedoms” such as “talking and waving to other people.” 619 So.2d at 234-35. The Tampa ordinance in Wyche provided that it was unlawful for any person to “[l]oiter, while a pedestrian or in a motor vehicle, in or near any thoroughfare or place open to the public in a manner and under circumstances manifesting the purpose of inducing, enticing, soliciting, or procuring another to commit an act of prostitution, sodomy, fellatio, cunnilingus, masturbation for hire, pandering, or other lewd or indecent act.” Id. at 233 n. 2. The ordinance also listed “circumstances” which law enforcement may consider when determining whether this “purpose is manifested.”3

The Florida Supreme Court stated:

The ordinance limits the rights of those who have been previously convicted of prostitution to engage in noncriminal routine activities. The ordinance suggests that it is incriminating when a “known prostitute” “repeatedly beckons to, stops or attempts to stop, or engages passers-by in conversation, or repeatedly stops, or attempts to stop motor vehicle operators by hailing, waving of arms, or any bodily gesture.” Hailing a cab or a friend, chatting on a public street, and simply strolling aimlessly are time-honored pastimes in our society and are clearly protected under Florida as well as federal law. All Florida citizens enjoy the inherent right to window shop, saunter down a sidewalk, and wave to friends and passersby with no fear of arrest.

Id. at 235 (citation and footnote omitted).

The court concluded that

the ordinance, which prohibits loitering “in a manner and under circumstances manifesting the purpose of’ engaging in acts of prostitution, does not require proof of unlawful intent as an element of the offense. Indeed, the ordinance allows arrest and conviction for loitering under circumstances merely indicating the possibility of such intent, such as beckoning to passersby and waving to motorists, which could be occurring without any intent to engage in criminal activity. Thus, the ordinance affects [727]*727and chills constitutionally protected activity.

Id.

Appellant argues that the West Palm Beach ordinance does not contain the same infirmities as the Tampa ordinance in Wyche, since the West Palm Beach ordinance contains the additional requirement that “[t]he violator’s conduct must be such as to constitute activity which demonstrates a specific intent to induce, entice, solicit or procure another to commit an act of prostitution.”

We find, however, that the ordinance in this case, just like in Wyche, is unconstitutionally overbroad. “The Constitution gives significant protection from overbroad laws that chill speech within the First Amendment’s vast and privileged sphere” and an enactment “is unconstitutional on its face if it prohibits a substantial amount of protected expression.” Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coal., 535 U.S. 234, 244, 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002). The language in this ordinance does not require that the conduct proscribed be with specific intent; rather the language merely restricts conduct which “demonstrates” a “specific intent.” Thus, criminalization of the conduct outlawed in the present case could infringe on constitutionally protected activities since an arresting police officer could rely purely on conduct which “demonstrates” to the officer a “specific intent” to entice or solicit another to commit an act of prostitution. Constitutionally protected conduct like waving at passersby and sauntering down a street could be interpreted by officers as constituting conduct which evinces a “specific intent” to solicit prostitution.

The Florida Supreme Court, on the same day it issued Wyche, issued Holliday v. City of Tampa, 619 So.2d 244 (Fla.1993), which invalidated an ordinance making it “unlawful for any person to loiter in a public place in a manner and under circumstances manifesting the purpose of illegally using, possessing, transferring or selling any controlled substance.” Id. at 244 n. 2. This drug loitering ordinance contained another provision which listed circumstances that could be considered when determining if that purpose had been manifested.4

Similar to West Palm Beach’s ordinance here, the ordinance in Holliday contained the additional requirement that “the person’s affirmative language or conduct must be such as to demonstrate by its express or implied content or appearance a specific intent to induce, entice, solicit or procure another to illegally possess, transfer or buy a controlled substance.” Id. at 245 n. 2. The Florida Supreme Court, in Holliday, concluded that “[b]ased on the authority of Wyche, we find that the ordinance at issue in this case is unconstitutional” since, among various conclusions, the ordinance was overbroad and vague. Id. at 245.

We find that the ordinance’s language in Holliday, allowing consideration of the circumstances enumerated to determine if [728]*728one’s language or conduct “demonstrate[d]” the “specific intent” to solicit another to engage in illegal drug activity, is structurally similar to the ordinance’s language in the present case, under which law enforcement may also consider enumerated circumstances in determining whether a loiterer “demonstrates” a specific intent to solicit another to commit an act of prostitution.

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Related

Connally v. General Construction Co.
269 U.S. 385 (Supreme Court, 1926)
Bouie v. City of Columbia
378 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court, 1964)
City of Chicago v. Morales
527 U.S. 41 (Supreme Court, 1999)
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
535 U.S. 234 (Supreme Court, 2002)
SE FISHERIES v. Dept. of Nat. Resources
453 So. 2d 1351 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1984)
Wyche v. State
619 So. 2d 231 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1993)
Holliday v. City of Tampa
619 So. 2d 244 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1993)
State v. Catalano
104 So. 3d 1069 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2012)
State v. J.P.
907 So. 2d 1101 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
112 So. 3d 723, 2013 WL 1890698, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 7360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-west-palm-beach-v-chatman-fladistctapp-2013.