Hart v. State

405 So. 2d 1048
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided November 12, 1981·No. 81-1231·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

405 So.2d 1048 (1981)

Robert John HART and Charles Ray Hewitt, Appellants,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 81-1231.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

November 12, 1981.

*1049 Alan Jay Braverman of Law Offices of Alan Jay Braverman, P.A., for appellant Hewitt.

Jeffrey Mark Harris, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant Hart.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, Robert L. Bogen, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

ON MOTION TO REVIEW ORDER DENYING BAIL

ANSTEAD, Judge.

Petitioners Charles Ray Hewitt and Robert John Hart were convicted of trafficking in cannabis in violation of Section 893.135(1)(a). Florida Statutes (1979). In accordance with the provisions of Section 903.133, Florida Statutes (1980), the judge refused to set bail after petitioners were sentenced.

At issue is the constitutionality of Section 903.133, which prohibits bail pending appellate review to all persons adjudged guilty of drug trafficking in violation of Sections 893.13 and 893.135, Florida Statutes (1979). Specifically, petitioners contend Section 903.133 conflicts with the provisions of Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.130(a) and 3.691(a) and encroaches upon the rulemaking authority granted to the Florida Supreme Court under Article V, Section 2(a) of the Florida Constitution which provides:

SECTION 2. Administration; practice and procedure. —
(a) The supreme court shall adopt rules for the practice and procedure in all courts including the time for seeking appellate review, the administrative supervision of all courts, the transfer to the court having jurisdiction of any proceeding when the jurisdiction of another court has been improvidently invoked, and a requirement that no cause shall be dismissed because an improper remedy has been sought. These rules may be repealed by general law enacted by two-thirds vote of the membership of each house of the legislature.

It is axiomatic, of course, that the rulemaking power granted to the Florida Supreme Court under Article V, Section 2(a) is limited to the promulgation of rules of "procedure"; the prescription of "substantive" law is said to be the exclusive prerogative of the Legislature. State v. Garcia, 229 So.2d 236 (Fla. 1969). As stated in Benyard v. Wainwright, 322 So.2d 473, 475 (Fla. 1975):

Substantive law prescribes the duties and rights under our system of government. The responsibility to make substantive law is in the legislature within the limits of the state and federal constitutions. Procedural law concerns the means and method to apply and enforce those duties and rights. Procedural rules concerning the judicial branch are the responsibility of this Court, subject to repeal by the legislature in accordance with our constitutional provisions. See In re Clarification of Florida Rules of Practice and Procedure, 281 So.2d 204 (Fla. 1973); In re Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, 272 So.2d 65 (Fla.) amended 272 So.2d 513 (Fla. 1973).

"As related to criminal law and procedure, substantive law is that which declares what acts are crimes and prescribes the punishment therefor, while procedural law is that which provides or regulates the steps by *1050 which one who violates a criminal statute is punished." State v. Garcia, at 238. However, "in some instances it is difficult to determine whether a rule relates to a matter that is substantive or a matter that is procedural." Id. The Florida Supreme Court has itself experienced this difficulty; in Benyard v. Wainwright, the court conceded that its own Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.722, by providing that defendants convicted of two or more crimes were presumed to have been sentenced concurrently unless the trial judge specified differently, was substantive law and hence invalid since it conflicted with Section 921.16, Florida Statutes, which specified that defendants in such situations were presumed to have been sentenced consecutively.

In the present case we must determine whether Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.130(a)[1] and 3.691(a),[2] which provide for the discretionary post-trial release of defendants whose convictions were not for capital offenses and who do not have any previous felony convictions, should prevail over Section 903.133, Florida Statutes, which provides that defendants who are convicted of first degree felony violations of Sections 893.13 and 893.135 shall not be entitled to post-trial release under any circumstances.

Although Section 903.133, Florida Statutes, was not adopted by the legislature until 1980, a statute having a similar effect, Section 903.131, later 903.132, was passed by the legislature in 1969. In its original form, Section 903.131 prohibited bail on appeal to a convicted felon who had "previously been convicted of a felony, the commission of which occurred prior to the commission of the subsequent felony, and such person's civil rights had not been restored." In Greene v. State, 238 So.2d 296 (Fla. 1970), the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Section 903.131 upon an attack similar to the one raised here:

Defendants' argument that the statute is unconstitutional under Article II, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution — in 1968 Revision because it represents a legislative encroachment upon the powers of the judiciary is without merit. Historically the trial court has exercised wide discretion in determining the severity of punishment meted out to the convicted criminal. Yet the limits of this discretion are altered whenever the Legislature increases or decreases the minimum or maximum fine or imprisonment allowable for a given offense. The Legislature long ago preempted judicial discretion when it set mandatory death or life imprisonment punishments for rape and murder in the first degree. The Legislature has gone no further in passing the statute here attacked. Section 903.131 does not suffer the infirmity of violating the separation of powers doctrine. (Footnotes omitted).

238 So.2d at 299. The statute, by then numbered Section 903.132, was again upheld in Palladino v. Turner, 263 So.2d 206 (Fla. 1972).

*1051 Later in 1972, the Florida Supreme Court promulgated Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.691. In Re Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, 272 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1972). Rule 3.691 (and Rule 3.130(a)) appeared to be in conflict with Section 903.132 insofar as the rule made the denial of bail on appeal to convicts with prior felony convictions whose civil rights have not been restored discretionary, whereas the statute made the denial of bail to such individuals mandatory. In 1974 the Second District Court of Appeal acknowledged this conflict and held that "the legislature cannot deprive the court of its discretion to determine whether bail should be granted pursuant to a rule of criminal procedure." Bamber v. State, 300 So.2d 269, 270 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974). Accord, Rolle v. State, 314 So.2d 624 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), cert. den., 334 So.2d 608 (Fla. 1976). In determining that the entitlement to bail on appeal was a procedural matter, the Bamber and Rolle courts relied on inferences drawn from the Florida Supreme Court's earlier decision in Bernhardt v. State, 288 So.2d 490 (Fla. 1974), in which it was held that, "insofar as (Florida Statute) § 949.10 purports to deprive the court of its discretion in determining whether bail should be granted (to a pr

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