Lee v. State

217 So. 2d 861, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 6398
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 29, 1969
DocketNo. 913
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 217 So. 2d 861 (Lee 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
Lee v. State, 217 So. 2d 861, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 6398 (Fla. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

REED, Judge.

The appellant, Sandsbury Lee, appeals from an order of the Criminal Court of Record in Broward County, Florida, entered on 28 June 1966, summarily denying a motion he filed under Criminal Procedure Rule 1 (now CrPR 1.850, 33 F.S.A.) to vacate a sentence imposed upon him by that court.

On 25 April 1958 an’ ■ information Was filed in the Criminal Court of Record for Broward County, Florida, alleging that on 12 February 1952 appellant was adjudged guilty of robbery by the Criminal Court of Record for Dade County, Florida, and sentenced to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term of four years. The information also alleged that appellant on 25 June 1957 was convicted in the Criminal Court of Record for Broward County, Florida, of the felony of breaking and entering a motor vehicle. The information concludes with the allegation that appellant is a second offender under the laws of the State of Florida. The information does not allege the statute under which it was brought, but it was evidently predicated upon the second offender statute then in effect, F.S. Section 775.09, F.S.A.1957. The action was designated “Case No. 44805” in the records of the Broward County Criminal Court of Record.

A jury trial was held on the allegations contained in the information, and the defendant on 11 June 1958 was found guilty as charged. He was thereafter sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for a term of eighteen years from May 13, 1957, the date of incarceration under the sentence initially imposed for the second felony conviction, that is, the Broward County conviction for breaking and entering a motor vehicle. This was Case No. 37976 in the records of the Criminal Court of Record for Broward County.

On 24 March 1966 appellant filed in the Broward County Criminal Court of Record in Broward County Case No. 44805 a pro se motion under Criminal Procedure Rule 1. His motion asserts two grounds for relief from the sentence imposed pursuant to his second offender conviction. The first is that at the time of the proceedings in the Dade County Criminal Court of Record, although he did not waive the right to be represented by an attorney, he was indigent and denied the appointment of an attorney for his defense. The second is that at the time he was tried in Broward County in Case No. 37976 for breaking and entering a motor vehicle, the prosecutor knowingly used perjured testimony.

The Criminal Court of Record for Broward County, Florida, entered an order on appellant’s motion on 28 June 1966 stating that:

« * * H=
“ * * * [I]f petitioner has some complaint in Dade County, Florida the proper court to handle Dade County Complaints would of necessity be a Dade County Court, and therefore this Court can only honor the judgments of Dade County as reflected by the clerk of it’s [sic] Criminal Court of Record, per the attached certificate.” (Emphasis added.)

The present appeal has been taken from this order which summarily denied the motion without an evidentiary hearing.

With, respect to the allegations relating to the knowing use of false testimony, the state takes the position that these allegations are merely conclusions and do not, therefore, warrant a hearing. We concur on the authority of Buchanan v. State, Fla.App.1966, 184 So.2d 225, but note in passing that the trial court had discretion to permit an amendment to the petition.

Two fundamental questions are presented by the record before us. Does the [864]*864second offender statute under, which appellant was convicted require for its application a constitutionally valid prior conviction ? If so, can appellant assert by means of a Rule 1 motion filed in the Broward County Criminal Court of Record the invalidity of the prior Dade County conviction after the Dade County sentence has expired?

The statute under which the defendant was convicted in Broward County as a second offender read as follows:

F.S. Section 775.09, F.S.A.1957:

“A person who, after having been convicted within this state of a felony * * * commits any felony within this state is punishable upon conviction of such second offense as follows: If the subsequent felony is such that upon a first conviction the offender would be punishable by imprisonment for any term less than his natural life then such person must be sentenced to imprisonment for a term no less than the longest term nor more than twice the longest term prescribed upon a first conviction. * * * »

It is our opinion that this statute contemplates a constitutionally valid prior conviction. If it did not, the application of the statute would deny a defendant due process of law. In the case of Oyler v. Boles, 1962, 368 U.S. 448, 82 S.Ct. 501, 7 L.Ed.2d 446, the United States Supreme Court commented with respect to a similar statute:

“ * * * It is, of course, true that identity is not the only issue presented in a recidivist proceeding, for, as pointed out by Mr. Justice Hughes (later Chief Justice when this Court first reviewed West Virginia’s habitual criminal law, this statute contemplates valid convictions which have not been subsequently nullified. Graham v. West Virginia, [224 U.S. 616, 32 S.Ct. 583, 56 L.Ed. 917] supra. A list of the more obvious issues would also include such matters as whether the previous convictions are of the character contemplated by West Virginia’s statute and whether the required procedure has been followed in invoking it. Indeed, we may assume that any infirmities in the prior convictions open to collateral attack could have been reached in the recidivist proceedings, either because the state law so permits or due process so requires. * * * ”

These comments were dicta in the case, but we find them persuasive when coupled with other recent authority. In Burgett v. State of Texas, 1967, 389 U.S. 109, 88 S.Ct. 258, 19 L.Ed.2d 319, the Court held that:

“To permit a conviction obtained in violation of Gideon v. Wainwright to be used against a person either to support guilt or enhance punishment. for another offense * * * is to erode the principle of that case. Worse yet, since the defect in the prior conviction was denial of a right to counsel, the accused in effect suffers anew from the deprivation of that Sixth Amendment right.” (Emphasis added.)

In Davis v. State, Fla.App.1966, 191 So.2d 440, the Court of Appeal for the Third District held that F.S. Section 790.23, F.S.A., which makes it unlawful to possess a pistol after a felony conviction contemplates an organically valid prior conviction. This decision was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court in State v. Davis, Fla.1967, 203 So.2d 160. In its opinion the Florida Supreme Court points out that F.S. Section 790.23, F.S.A., is not a recidivist statute. The second offender statute with which we are here concerned is a recidivist statute because it creates no new offense, but requires an enhanced penalty for the second offense. Reynolds v. Cochran, Fla.1962, 138 So.2d 500. Regardless of the [865]*865distinction, both statutes require the imposition of a penalty which, but for the statutes, would not be authorized. In this important respect they are similar.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hamm v. State
380 So. 2d 1101 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1980)
Jackson v. State
252 So. 2d 241 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1971)
Johnson v. State
263 A.2d 232 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1970)
Lee v. State
230 So. 2d 478 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
217 So. 2d 861, 1969 Fla. App. LEXIS 6398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-state-fladistctapp-1969.