Jeremiah Laplace v. State of Florida

Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

JEREMIAH LAPLACE,

Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

No. 4D2025-0032

[August 26, 2026]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St. Lucie County; Michael James Linn, Judge; L.T. Case No. 562022CF002171AXXXXX.

Daniel Eisinger, Public Defender, and Gary Lee Caldwell, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Heidi L. Bettendorf, Senior Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant appeals from his conviction and sentence for four counts of transmitting a threat to kill or do bodily injury pursuant to section 836.10, Florida Statutes (2022). He raises four issues on appeal: (1) whether the circuit court erred in using the standard jury instruction for transmitting a threat to kill or do bodily injury; (2) whether the defendant was entitled to a twelve-person jury under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (3) whether the circuit court erred in designating and sentencing the defendant as a habitual felony offender; and (4) whether the circuit court erred in imposing $50 in investigative costs and $200 in prosecution costs.

We affirm the circuit court’s use of a six-person jury. See Guzman v. State, 350 So. 3d 72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022), rev. denied, No. SC22-1597, 2023 WL 3830251 (Fla. June 6, 2023); Cunningham v. Florida, 144 S. Ct. 1287 (2024) (denying petition for writ of certiorari challenging Florida’s use

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of six-member juries). But see Kian v. State, 421 So. 3d 439 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025), cert. granted, No. SC25-6623, 2026 WL 1718018 (June 15, 2026).

The circuit court erred in imposing a $50 investigative cost and a $200 prosecution cost.

“Trial courts may impose investigatory costs, but only when requested by the State or agency involved.” Desrosiers v. State, 286 So. 3d 297, 300 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019) (citing Chambers v. State, 217 So. 3d 210, 214 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017)). When neither the State nor the investigating law enforcement agency requests such costs, these costs must be stricken and cannot be imposed on remand. Id.; see also Richards v. State, 288 So. 3d 574, 577 (Fla. 2020). Here, because neither the State nor the agency involved requested reimbursement for investigative costs, we reverse the $50 investigative cost imposition, and remand for the circuit court to strike the $50 investigative cost imposition.

Section 938.27(8), Florida Statutes (2025), governs the imposition of prosecution costs, providing: “Costs for the state attorney must be set in all cases at ... no less than $100 per case when a felony offense is charged[.] ... The court may set a higher amount upon a showing of sufficient proof of higher costs incurred.” § 938.27(8), Fla. Stat. (2025). “The burden of demonstrating the amount of costs incurred is on the state attorney.” § 938.27(4), Fla. Stat. (2025). Because the State did not request an enhanced prosecution cost and presented no evidence of higher costs incurred, the circuit court lacked a basis to impose $200 in prosecution costs. See Sikich v. State, 337 So. 3d 811, 812 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022) (reversing and remanding for the trial court to reduce prosecution cost to the statutory minimum, where the state did not request the trial court to impose, and did not present any evidence to support, the higher cost, and the trial court did not announce the higher cost). Accordingly, we reverse the $200 prosecution cost, and remand for the circuit court to reduce the prosecution cost to $100.

We affirm without comment on the remaining issues.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with directions.

GERBER, C.J., MAY and SHAW, JJ., concur.

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Not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing.