State v. Gil

68 So. 3d 999, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 14136, 2011 WL 3903157
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 7, 2011
DocketNo. 3D10-150
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 68 So. 3d 999 (State v. Gil) 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
State v. Gil, 68 So. 3d 999, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 14136, 2011 WL 3903157 (Fla. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ROTHENBERG, J.

The State of Florida appeals the trial court’s order dismissing the information charging Pedro Gil (“the defendant”) with unlawfully driving a motor vehicle while his driver’s license is revoked as a habitual traffic offender pursuant to section 322.34(5), Florida Statutes (2009), based on double jeopardy grounds. Because we agree with the Fourth District Court’s decision in State v. Cooke, 767 So.2d 468 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), that convictions for violation of sections 322.34(2) and (5) do not constitute double jeopardy, and for the reasons stated herein, we reverse.

The defendant was arrested and issued several citations for driving with a revoked driver’s license pursuant to section 322.34(5) (habitual traffic offender revocation), driving with a suspended driver’s license pursuant to section 322.34(2), and various other traffic offenses. On October 27, 2009, the defendant was formally charged with violating section 322.34(2), a misdemeanor, and other traffic offenses in county court, and with violating section 322.34(5), a felony, in circuit court. The defendant pled guilty to violating section 322.34(2) in county court on October 27, 2009, and then moved to dismiss the felony charged under section 322.34(5) filed in circuit court, on double jeopardy grounds. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion, finding that convictions under section 322.34(2) and 322.34(5) would constitute double jeopardy.

Our analysis is governed by section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes (2009), codifying the double jeopardy guidelines established by the United States Supreme Court in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), and the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Valdes v. State, 3 So.3d 1067, 1076 (Fla. 2009), adopting Justice Cantero’s special concurrence in State v. Paul, 934 So.2d 1167, 1176 (Fla.2006), concluding that the legislative intent in section 775.021(4)(b)(2) was to “disallow separate punishments for crimes arising from the same criminal transaction only when the statute itself provides for an offense with multiple degrees.”

Section 775.021 provides in relevant part:

(4)(a) Whoever, in the course of one criminal transaction or episode, commits an act or acts which constitute one or more separate criminal offenses, upon conviction and adjudication of guilt, shall be sentenced separately for each crimi[1001]*1001nal offense; and the sentencing judge may order the sentences to be served concurrently or consecutively. For the purposes of this subsection, offenses are separate if each offense requires proof of an element that the other does not, without regard to the accusatory pleading or the proof adduced at trial.

A review of subsections (2) and (5) of section 322.34 reflect that violations do not require identical elements of proof because they include elements not found in the other, and that neither offense is a lesser included offense of the other. See also Cooke, 767 So.2d at 469 (concluding that subsections 322.34(2) and (5) contain elements not found in the other offense, and therefore convictions for both offenses do not constitute double jeopardy). Thus, the issue we must resolve is whether these offenses are “degrees of the same offense” under section 775.021(4)(b)(2) or “degree variants” under Valdes.

At first blush, section 322.34(5), dealing with habitual traffic offenders, appears to be a degree variant of section 322.34(2), dealing with drivers who have had their licenses canceled, suspended, or revoked for a reason other than being a habitual traffic offender, because they are found in the same statute. However on closer inspection, it is not, and, in fact, these offenses have little in common except they both provide for punishment for driving while a driver’s license or privilege is revoked.

Section 322.34 provides in relevant part as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), any person whose driver’s license or driving privilege has been canceled, suspended, or revoked, except a “habitual traffic offender” as defined in s. 322.264, who drives a vehicle upon the highways of this state while such license or privilege is canceled, suspended, or revoked is guilty of a moving violation, punishable as provided in chapter 318.
(2) Any person whose driver’s license or driving privilege has been canceled, suspended, or revoked as provided by law, except persons defined in s. 322.264, who, knowing of such cancellation, suspension, or revocation, drives any motor vehicle upon the highways of this state while such license or privilege is canceled, suspended, or revoked, upon:
(a) A first conviction is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree....
(b) A second conviction is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree....
(c) A third or subsequent conviction is guilty of a felony of the third degree....
[[Image here]]
(5) Any person whose driver’s license has been revoked pursuant to s. 322.264 (habitual offender) and who drives any motor vehicle upon the highways of this state while such license is revoked is guilty of a felony of the third degree....

Subsection (5) is not a degree variant of subsection (2) because: subsection (2) punishes for driving with a canceled or revoked license, whereas subsection (5) only punishes for driving with a revoked license; subsection (2) requires that the driver have knowledge that his license was canceled, suspended, or revoked, whereas subsection (5) does not require knowledge; and subsection (2) provides for different penalties based on the number of convictions the driver has for violating section 322.34 (sixty days incarceration for a first conviction, 364 days incarceration for a second conviction, and five years incarceration for a third or subsequent conviction), whereas a violation under subsection (5) is punishable up to five years incarceration regardless of the number of times the driver has been convicted for this offense. Additionally, subsection (2) specifically ex-[1002]*1002eludes habitual traffic offenders under subsection (5) from its application: “Any person whose driver’s license or driving privilege has been canceled, suspended, or revoked as provided by law, except persons defined in s. 322.264 [the habitual traffic offender statute].... ” § 322.34(2), Fla. Stat. (2009) (emphasis added).

Subsection (5) is also not a degree variant of subsection (2) because a violation of subsection (2) is not a “moving violation,” whereas a violation of subsection (5) is a “moving violation,” see § 322.34(1); and the cancellation, suspension, or revocation of a driver’s license under subsection (2) is based on the number of “points” a driver has accumulated pursuant to the point system provided in section 322.27 over a certain period of time, whereas subsection (5) is based on the number of convictions for the offenses listed in sections 322.264(1) and (2) over a five-year period.

When a driver’s license is suspended under section 322.34(2) it is because the driver has accumulated a specific number of “points” or upon a conviction for certain offenses.

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

Related

Gil v. State
118 So. 3d 787 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 So. 3d 999, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 14136, 2011 WL 3903157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gil-fladistctapp-2011.