State v. Greene

247 So. 2d 102, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 6628
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 20, 1971
DocketNo. 70-734
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 247 So. 2d 102 (State v. Greene) 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. Greene, 247 So. 2d 102, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 6628 (Fla. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by the State of Florida, the prosecution below, seeking review of an order and amended order granting appellee Greene’s motion to dismiss the information. We reverse.

To begin with, the undisputed facts are that Metropolitan Dade County Commissioner, Harold A. Greene, the defendant [103]*103below, was charged by information, based upon an earlier grand jury indictment, with receiving a bribe, in violation of § 838.06, Fla.Stat., F.S.A. He moved to dismiss on various grounds. The trial court treated such motion as a motion under Rule 1.190, Cr.P.R., 33 F.S.A. The judge examined the evidence under Rule 1.190, and thereafter granted the motion and dismissed the information.1

We set out the information, omitting the formal parts, in a note.2 The sections of the Metropolitan Dade County Code referred to in the information are set out in the next note.3

The parties also do not dispute the facts underlying the charge. Kirsner employed Greene as an attorney to determine if he, Kirsner, should exercise an option to purchase certain realty at the boundary of the City of Miami and Dade County. The prosecution views the transaction as a bribe to Greene to determine whether a County access road would be provided to [104]*104that realty. Greene takes the position that the money was paid as an attorney’s fee.

After an extensive review of deposition testimony and the applicable law, the trial court issued the detailed order which is appealed. It, in part, is quoted below:

“The most that this Court can determine from the facts and from the indictment is that the thousand dollars paid by Hy-man Kirsner to HAROLD GREENE (considering everything in a light most favorable to the State) was in the nature of ‘payola.’
“1 “Payola” probably is not regarded as an authentic word, but this lately coined expression is peculiarly descriptive. It denotes to the public the unsavory practice of making gifts to receptive representatives of powerful governmental agencies as a means of currying favor and enhancing prospects of economic or other advantages. Although generally such practices have not been forbidden under penalty of law, they are widely condemned as unethical and offensive to good government.
“ ‘The statutes here informed under are essentially “bribery statutes.” As with criminal statutes generally they are to be strictly construed, Florida, in company with most other states, has no anti-payola statute. Consequently there is little legal deterrent to some of the conflict of interest situations that frequently arise. The legislature conceivably might enact a valid statute defining conflict of interest and declaring it to be unlawful and contrary to public policy for certain officers and employees on state projects to accept any gratuity or benefit which would create a conflict of interest and declaring it to be unlawful and contrary to public policy for certain officers and employees on state projects to accept any gratuity or benefit which would create a conflict of interest with the state.’ ” [Florida v. Hazellief, Fla.App.1962, 148 So.2d 28, 32.] * * *
“For the reasons herein above stated the Court finds:
“(a) That the factual situation fails to state a crime under the provisions of 838.06, F.S.
“(b) That the indictment and information are insufficient as a matter of law.”

We turn now from the history of this case to the point directed to the sufficiency of the information. The appellee is charged with a violation of Sect. 838.06 Fla.Stat., F.S.A. The language of the statute is extremely important in a determination of the question of the legal sufficiency of the charge brought against the appellee. We therefore set the section out in full:

§ 838.06 — Unlawful for officers to accept unauthorized compensation for performance or nonperformance of duty.
“It is unlawful for any public officer, agent, servant or employee to request, solicit, exact or accept any reward, compensation, or other remuneration, other than those provided by law, from any person whatsoever for the past, present or future performance, non-performance or violation of any act, rule or regulation that may be or may have been incumbent upon such public officer, agent, servant or employee to administer, respect, perform, execute or have executed; provided that nothing herein shall be construed so as to preclude a sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, deputy constable, city marshal or policeman from accepting rewards or remuneration for services performed in apprehending any criminal.”

This statute is not the typical bribery statute based upon the common law crime of bribery the gist of which was influencing a public official in the discharge of his [105]*105official duties. At early common law, criminal bribery was limited to corruption in the administration of justice. 12 Am. Jur.2nd Bribery, § 2, p. 749. Such prohibitions are imposed by §§ 838.01, 838.011, 838.012, 838.03, 838.05, 838.09, Fla.Stat., F. S.A., however, sections 838.02, 838.06 and 838.04 are directed at both receipt of unauthorized compensation as well as the influencing of official activity.

The violation charged, in the state’s view, is that certain information was within the power, duty and discretion of the defendant to determine as an official, so that he received unauthorized compensation by being paid once by the public and once by Kirsner. The state concedes that there is no statute or ordinance making the information confidential. The state also concedes that it does not allege, or intend to prove, that the payment was directed toward influencing the Commissioner’s official activities (e. g., having the access road favorably passed on by the Public Works Department or by the Metro Commission or the defendant as an individual Commissioner). On the contrary, the state contends, “It was within his power and duty to obtain the information.” The state continues by saying that since it was within the defendant’s duty to make the inquiry that it was unlawful for the commissioner to charge for such service or to make a promise to perform such service.

The information in substance charges that the defendant for $1,000.00 promised to advise Kirsner as to whether the county was to provide an access road for certain property. Read liberally, it charges that the $1,000.00 was unauthorized compensation since the defendant in his capacity as a County Commissioner was under an existing duty [by virtue of Subsections (1) and (20) of Section 1.01(A) of the Charter4] to do that for which Kirsner was paying him.

Stated differently, the defendant Greene was charged with soliciting or accepting $1,000.00 from Kirsner to investigate or inquire of the Public Works Department of the County as to whether it was to provide an access road in a certain location, and to pass the information to Kirsner if such investigation revealed the road was to be installed. This is apparent because the powers and duties assigned to county commissioners under the charter include investigation and inquiry into the conduct, records and transactions of any department or office of the county, and in connection therewith to require reports from county officers and employees, and the production of records.

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Related

Williams v. Christian
335 So. 2d 358 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1976)
State v. Greene
266 So. 2d 392 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1972)
Greene v. State
263 So. 2d 194 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
247 So. 2d 102, 1971 Fla. App. LEXIS 6628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-greene-fladistctapp-1971.