RAH v. State

614 So. 2d 1189, 1993 WL 48167
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 26, 1993
Docket92-2782
StatusPublished

This text of 614 So. 2d 1189 (RAH 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
RAH v. State, 614 So. 2d 1189, 1993 WL 48167 (Fla. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

614 So.2d 1189 (1993)

R.A.H., a Child, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 92-2782.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

February 26, 1993.

*1190 Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and Nancy L. Showalter, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Wendy S. Morris, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

ZEHMER, Judge.

R.A.H. was adjudicated a delinquent child and committed to a juvenile facility identified as a "halfway house."[1] Thereafter, on or about April 15-16, 1992, he left that facility without permission. He was charged and adjudicated guilty of escape under section 39.112, Florida Statutes (1989).[2] Appealing this delinquency order, R.A.H. contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the escape charge. He argues that section 39.112, the statute on which the charge was based, was repealed effective October 1, 1990, when section 39.061, Florida Statutes (Supp. 1990),[3] became effective. Ch. 90-208, §§ 5 and 17, at 1094 and 1160, Laws of Fla. Thus, R.A.H. urges, section 39.112 was not in effect in April 1992 when he allegedly committed the charged offense, and that statute cannot lawfully serve as the basis for a charge of escape in this case.

The state contends that the trial court correctly adjudicated R.A.H. guilty of escape pursuant to section 39.112 based on the premise that section 39.112 remained effective on the date of the charged offense. The state acknowledges that section 39.112 had been repealed effective October 1, 1990, and that in D.P. v. State, 597 So.2d 952 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), this court held that the portion of section 39.061 relating to escape from residential commitment facilities was unconstitutional and invalid, but it argues that the former statute was revived or remained effective based on the principle that, "It is well settled that, where a repealing act is adjudged unconstitutional, the statute it attempts to repeal remains in force. Messer v. Jackson, 126 Fla. 678, 171 So. 660, 662 (1936); *1191 Henderson v. Antonacci, 62 So.2d 5, 7 (Fla. 1952)." (Answer Brief at p. 7). The state cites to State ex rel. Boyd v. Green, 355 So.2d 789 (Fla. 1978), as "[a] prime example of the application of the principle of reinstatement." (Id.) It also references Florida Homebuilders Ass'n v. Division of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship, 367 So.2d 219 (Fla. 1979), for the same proposition. The state cites Waldrup v. Dugger, 562 So.2d 687 (Fla. 1990), and Smith v. Smathers, 372 So.2d 427 (Fla. 1979), as authority for this court to create a "hybrid" statute containing elements taken from two different legislative schemes adopted in different years, i.e., combining the portion of section 39.112 that relates to the unconstitutional portions of section 39.061 with the surviving constitutional provisions in section 39.061 for the purpose of defining the offense of "escape" after this court's decision in D.P.

We reject the state's argument that section 39.112 can serve to legally support the escape conviction in this case. The charged offense occurred after the October 1, 1990, effective date of the repeal of that section by chapter 90-208, section 17, Laws of Florida. This court's ruling in D.P. v. State, 597 So.2d 952, held unconstitutional only a portion of the language in section 39.061 created by section 5 of chapter 90-208.[4] Our decision in D.P. did not invalidate the entire act, or even all of section 39.061, nor did it invalidate the repealer clause in section 17 of chapter 90-208. There is, therefore, no basis in law for treating the decision in D.P. as having the legal effect of reviving the validity of repealed section 39.112. For the following reasons, the cases cited to us by the state are materially distinguishable and do not justify the revival of a repealed statute that defines a criminal offense.

In Messer v. Jackson, 171 So. 660, the supreme court held that a statute purporting to regulate motor vehicles was not validly enacted by the legislature, observing that since the act "did not become a law as provided by the Constitution of the state of Florida, it follows that the law which it purported to repeal or supersede remains in full force and effect." Id. at 662. Similarly, in Henderson v. Antonacci, 62 So.2d 5, 7, the trial court ruled that "[s]ections 855.01 and 855.02, F.S.A., as amended by Laws of Florida 1951," regulating the operation of various businesses on Sunday, were unconstitutional. The supreme court upheld the trial court's ruling in respect to the 1951 amendments to the statutes, but it further held that the trial court exceeded its authority in holding sections 855.01 and 855.02 invalid in their entirety because the complaint only challenged the validity of the statutes as amended in 1951. The court cited to Messer v. Jackson in support of its conclusion that sections 855.01 and 855.02, as they existed before the challenged 1951 amendments, remained in effect, no doubt because all of the amending provisions were invalidated. Likewise, in Florida Homebuilders Ass'n v. Division of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship, 367 So.2d 219, the supreme court invalidated the entire 1951 act amending chapter 509 in regard to the office of hotel commissioner, including the repealer provisions, and held that the prior provisions in chapter 509 remained in effect.

Accordingly, each of these cases supports only the proposition that where a repealing act is adjudged unconstitutional, the statute it attempts to repeal remains in force. In each of these cases, the repealer provision of the unconstitutional enactment was invalidated ab initio, so as to negate any legally effective repeal of the prior legislation. As our decision in D.P. did not invalidate all of section 39.061 and did not invalidate the repeal of section 39.112, these cases are wholly inapposite.

The state's reliance on State ex rel. Boyd v. Green, 355 So.2d 789 (Fla. 1978), as a prime example of the application of this principle in circumstances analogous to this case is also misplaced. In Green, the supreme *1192 court considered the validity of chapter 77-312, section 1, Laws of Florida [§ 921.131, Fla. Stat. (1977)], which established separate hearings for determining issues of guilt and insanity in criminal trials. Section 10 of that act repealed rule 3.210, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, which contained provisions governing the procedure for determining issues of guilt and insanity in a single trial. The supreme court held that the separate trial provision in section 1 of the act was invalid as an unconstitutional denial of due process. The court further held that the repeal of rule 3.210 by section 10 was "so connected and dependent" on the new legislative scheme established in section 1 that, notwithstanding the severability clause in section 11 of that act, the two provisions could not be treated as severable and that the unconstitutionality of section 1 likewise invalidated the repeal of the rule by section 10 on the principle that, "Where one provision is unconstitutional, all provisions dependent on it must also fall." Id. at 794. Hence, Green is similar to the other cases discussed above — the repealer provision was invalidated ab initio by the court's decision.

The state argues that in the case before us no portion of section 39.061 remains valid and enforceable after our decision in D.P.,

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

Related

Warren v. State
572 So. 2d 1376 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1991)
Henderson v. Antonacci
62 So. 2d 5 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1952)
Waldrup v. Dugger
562 So. 2d 687 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1990)
Smith v. Smathers
372 So. 2d 427 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1979)
State Ex Rel. Boyd v. Green
355 So. 2d 789 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)
Messer v. Jackson
171 So. 660 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1936)
In the Interest of D.P. v. State
597 So. 2d 952 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
614 So. 2d 1189, 1993 WL 48167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rah-v-state-fladistctapp-1993.