Ryan D. Maxey v. State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: March 6, 2026
• Docket: 6D2024-1883
• Status: Published

Opinion

SIXTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________

Case No. 6D2024-1883 Lower Tribunal No. 2007-CF-012555 _____________________________

RYAN D. MAXEY,

Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee. _____________________________

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County. Robert J. Egan, Judge.

March 6, 2026

MIZE, J.

Appellant, Ryan D. Maxey (“Maxey”), challenges the lower court’s order

vacating its prior order which granted Maxey’s motion for removal of the

requirement to register as a sexual offender under section 943.04354, Florida

Statutes (2022). Because the trial court was correct that it did not have discretion to

grant Maxey relief under section 943.04354, we affirm.

This Court reviews “a trial court’s interpretation of a statute de novo.” Marlin

Constr. Grp., LLC v. Bollinger, 412 So. 3d 812, 815 (Fla. 6th DCA 2024). “In matters involving statutory interpretation, courts must first look to the actual

language of the statute and examine the statute’s plain meaning.” Id. (internal

quotations omitted).

Under section 943.04354, “a person shall be considered for removal of the

requirement to register as a sexual offender . . . only if the person . . . [w]as convicted

. . . or adjudicated delinquent of a violation of” section 800.04, 827.071, or

847.0135(5), “is required to register as a sexual offender . . . solely on the basis of

this conviction or adjudication,” and “[i]s not more than 4 years older than the victim

of this violation who was 13 years of age or older but younger than 18 years of age

at the time the person committed this violation.” § 943.04354(1)(a), (b)1., (c), Fla.

Stat. Maxey was 28 years old when he committed a violation of section 847.0135(3)

involving a perceived 14-year-old victim. Since the offense of which Maxey was

convicted is not one of the offenses listed in section 943.04354, and Maxey also was

more than four years older than the perceived victim of his offense at the time of the

offense, Maxey did not qualify for consideration of removal from the sex offender

registry under section 943.04354, and the trial court was correct to vacate its prior

order granting Maxey’s motion.

AFFIRMED.

TRAVER, C.J., and PRATT, J., concur.

2 Briana Fosah and Robert I. Mandell, of Mandell Law, P.A., Orlando, for Appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Alyssa M. Williams, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF TIMELY FILED