Eddie Slattery v. The State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: January 24, 2024
• Docket: 2023-2012
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed January 24, 2024. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D23-2012 Lower Tribunal No. F77-724B ________________

Eddie Slattery, Appellant,

vs.

The State of Florida, Appellee.

An appeal under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.141(b)(2) from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Milton Hirsch, Judge.

Eddie Slattery, in proper person.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Richard L. Polin, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before EMAS, LINDSEY, and MILLER, JJ.

MILLER, J. Appellant, Eddie Slattery, appeals from an order denying his

successive motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of

Criminal Procedure 3.850. As he did below, Slattery contends that his

simultaneous convictions for first-degree felony murder and the predicate

qualifying felony are improper. The State, in turn, concedes that, for a finite

time period, dual convictions were indeed barred in Florida, but contends this

short-lived prohibition has never been applicable to the instant case. See

Slater v. State, 316 So. 2d 539, 542 (Fla. 1975) (holding double jeopardy

principles do not bar convictions for felony murder and underlying felony);

State v. Pinder, 375 So. 2d 836, 839 (Fla. 1979) (briefly, for merely two years,

concluding such dual convictions and sentences were improper); State v.

Hegstrom, 401 So. 2d 1343, 1346 (Fla. 1981) (partially receding from Pinder,

finding dual convictions are permissible, but dual sentencing is not); State v.

Enmund, 476 So. 2d 165, 168 (Fla. 1985) (confirming there is no double

jeopardy bar to dual convictions for felony murder and the underlying felony).

We agree with the State. And having carefully reviewed the record, which

was aptly characterized by the trial court as in “a state of disarray,” it is

evident that Slattery was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder as

charged in the indictment, rather than felony murder. Accordingly, this

2 appeal is without merit, and we affirm the thorough and detailed order under

review.

Affirmed.