Dygart v. State

247 So. 3d 655
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 18, 2018
DocketNo. 1D13–4977
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 247 So. 3d 655 (Dygart v. State) 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
Dygart v. State, 247 So. 3d 655 (Fla. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Winsor, J.

In the fall of 2011, Nathan Dygart exchanged messages with someone he thought was a fourteen-year-old girl named Amber. The two discussed sports, television, and parents. They also discussed sex, Dygart becoming increasingly explicit. The discussions escalated, and Dygart eventually drove to Tallahassee's Killearn subdivision, where he planned to have sex with fourteen-year-old "Amber."

When he arrived in Killearn, Dygart learned there was no "Amber"; he had been corresponding with a police detective involved in a sting operation. Officers arrested Dygart, and the State charged him with two crimes: one violation of section 847.0135(4)(a), which prohibits traveling for sex with a child (or someone thought to be a child) after using a computer to solicit *657a child for sex; and one violation of section 847.0135(3)(a), which prohibits using a computer to solicit a child (or someone thought to be a child) for sex, whether the perpetrator travels or not.

A jury convicted Dygart on both counts, and the trial judge sentenced him to twenty-four months in prison, plus sex-offender probation. Dygart appealed, arguing insufficient evidence, entrapment, and double jeopardy, among others. This court affirmed with a short opinion that addressed only the double-jeopardy issue. Dygart v. State , 163 So.3d 1292 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015), quashed by Dygart v. State , 2016 WL 1700524 (Fla. Apr. 28, 2016). On that issue, the court concluded it was bound by this court's earlier precedent holding that "dual convictions for violation of sections 847.0135(3) and 847.0135(4), Florida Statutes (2011), do not violate double jeopardy." Id. The court noted, though, that the supreme court had granted review in another case involving this same issue. Id. (citing Shelley v. State , 134 So.3d 1138, 1140-42 (Fla. 2d DCA), review granted , 147 So.3d 527 (Fla. 2014) ).

In State v. Shelley , the supreme court held that separate convictions for solicitation and traveling after solicitation cannot stand if they are "based upon the same conduct." 176 So.3d 914, 919 (Fla. 2015). The court expressly disapproved our earlier decision in State v. Murphy , 124 So.3d 323 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), which held the opposite, and on which we had relied in Dygart's initial appeal. See Dygart , 163 So.3d at 1292. The supreme court then quashed our initial Dygart decision, remanding for our reconsideration in light of Shelley . Dygart , 2016 WL 1700524. We again affirm.

After Shelley , the law is clear that a single solicitation cannot support a conviction for solicitation and a separate conviction for traveling after solicitation. 176 So.3d at 919. Our task, then, is to determine whether Dygart's two convictions flowed from a single solicitation-whether they were "based upon the same conduct." Id. ; see also Lee v. State , 223 So.3d 342, 351 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017) (en banc) (" Shelley does not disturb well-established precedent allowing for multiple punishments where a defendant commits multiple criminal acts. Accordingly, dual convictions for solicitation and traveling are not barred by Shelley and do not violate double jeopardy, if the record demonstrates that the defendant made two or more solicitations. Rather, the holding in Shelley is limited to cases where the defendant is convicted of both solicitation and traveling after solicitation based on a single act of solicitation."), review granted , SC17-1555, 2018 WL 2065542 (Feb. 8, 2018).

Dygart bears the burden to show that the record demonstrates a double-jeopardy violation. Lee , 223 So.3d at 353 ; Sprouse v. State , 208 So.3d 785, 787 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016) ; Edwards v. State , 139 So.3d 981, 983 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014). Having reviewed the record, we conclude that Dygart has not met his burden. The record includes dozens of text messages over roughly twenty-four hours and included transmissions from which a jury could find multiple, discrete solicitations. Cf. § 847.0135(3), Fla. Stat. (2011) ("Each separate use of a computer online service, Internet service, local bulletin board service, or any other device capable of electronic data storage or transmission wherein an offense described in this section is committed may be charged as a separate offense."). This means Dygart cannot demonstrate that both of his convictions relied on the same specific solicitation, which means that Shelley does not require us to vacate either conviction.

We do not disagree with the concurring opinion's observation that we should look *658to what the State charged. And nothing in Lee requires otherwise. Here, the State charged Dygart with one count of traveling (which includes as an element an act of solicitation), along with one count of solicitation (which likewise includes as an element an act of solicitation). We have no reason to assume that both counts are based on a single act of solicitation, particularly when the record shows Dygart committed multiple acts of solicitation. Nor can we accept the argument that an individual act of solicitation is not "charged" unless it is charged as a standalone solicitation, unconnected to any traveling violation. When the State charges traveling after solicitation, it is necessarily accusing the defendant of solicitation because solicitation is an element of the offense. See § 847.0135(4)(a), Fla. Stat.

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Related

Nathan Dygart v. State of Florida
270 So. 3d 557 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
247 So. 3d 655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dygart-v-state-fladistctapp-2018.