State v. Nichols

892 So. 2d 1221, 2005 WL 350332
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 15, 2005
Docket1D04-4287
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 892 So. 2d 1221 (State v. Nichols) 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. Nichols, 892 So. 2d 1221, 2005 WL 350332 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

892 So.2d 1221 (2005)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Bob NICHOLS and Damon A. Nichols, Appellees.

No. 1D04-4287.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

February 15, 2005.

*1222 William N. Meggs, State Attorney; Matthew A. Smith, Assistant State Attorney, Zachary Ward, Assistant State Attorney and Charlie Crist, Attorney General; Bryan Jordan, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Ronald A. Mowrey, Esquire, Ellen C. Pappas, Esquire and Donna S. Biggins, Esquire of Mowrey & Biggins, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellees.

BENTON, J.

This is a direct appeal from a county court order that ruled section 370.093(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2000), "unconstitutionally vague and unenforceable." See Art. V, § 4(b)(1), Fla. Const. We reverse, with directions that appellees' judgments of conviction and $250 fines be reinstated.

I.

The charges grew out of events on a fishing expedition in the early morning hours of August 31, 2000, while Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Donald Craig Duval was on patrol in the nearshore waters of Franklin County. Acting on a tip, Officer Duval *1223 motored his launch to the Turkey Point Shoal, within 100 to 150 yards of a vessel with a spotlight on board.

Looking through binoculars, he could see Bob and Damon A. Nichols standing near the stern, silhouetted against the spotlight, "a glistening of water and what appeared to be a net with fish entangled in it." For three hours, as he watched, the vessel turned at intervals, tracing a circular course. As the fishing came to an end, Officer Duval maneuvered his boat closer, and, when he was within 60 or 70 yards, saw the Messrs. Nichols, standing in shallow water, one of them making a hammering motion.

Officer Duval called for assistance. After the Nicholses had regained the vessel, he turned on his blue light and came alongside. A smallish square in the aft deck (partially hidden by a piece of carpet) looked as if it had been sawed out to make a crude hatch cover. He saw a hammer on the deck. For the first time he was able to make out who the Nicholses were. Only after they all reached shore did Officer Duval board the fishing boat, check the registration, and inspect the vessel at close quarters.

On the deck lay a dry, matted nylon net (of less than 500 square feet with "legal" mesh size). Completely free of debris, this net "obviously had not been used." The hammer Officer Duval had seen when he stopped the boat was nowhere to be found. But he spotted "a piece of monofilament[[1]] strand" sticking up through one of the cracks in the square of deck serving as a hatch cover, now nailed shut. Stowed below deck, it developed, was a gill or entangling net. Consisting of wet, untwisted, synthetic filament, it was laden with fish scales, spongy grass and other debris.

Also on board was a large cooler containing over a thousand pounds of black mullet and a few speckled trout. Many of the mullet had been "marked" as if their gills had gotten hung up on a net. The catch, including some 700 or 800 mullet, exceeded the 51-fish recreational bag limit.

The Nicholses were arrested on several charges, including the unlawful use of a gill or entangling net made of monofilament, in violation of section 370.093(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2000), which became count two, and possession of mullet in *1224 excess of the recreational bag limit while in possession of a gill or entangling net, which became count four of the information the State eventually filed.

II.

A county court jury returned verdicts finding the appellees guilty of counts two and four.[2] After the presiding judge stated he would take their post-trial, ore tenus motion for judgment of acquittal on these counts under advisement, they submitted a second, written motion for judgment of acquittal.[3] The written motion argued at length that section 370.093(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2000), is unconstitutional, citing the learned county court judge's prior rulings[4] to that effect. To the extent the written motion argued that section 370.093(2)(b) was unconstitutional, we deem it filed pursuant to Rule 3.610(a), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure (authorizing motion for arrest of judgment on grounds that the "information on which the defendant was tried is so defective that it will not support a judgment of conviction").[5]See Harris, 439 So.2d at 269; State v. Gray, 435 So.2d 816, 818 (Fla.1983). The county court granted the appellees' motions as to both counts[6] on January 24, 2002.

In granting the defendants' motion as to count two, the county court declared section 370.093(2)(b) unconstitutional. The State sought to appeal this ruling to circuit court, which purported to decide[7] the *1225 question of the statute's constitutionality, notwithstanding the limitation on appellate circuit court jurisdiction embodied in section 26.012(1), Florida Statutes (2002), which provides:

Circuit courts shall have jurisdiction of appeals from county courts except appeals of county court orders or judgments declaring invalid a state statute or a provision of the State Constitution and except orders or judgments ... certified... to be of great public importance and ... accepted ... for review.

(Emphasis supplied.) See Art. V, § 5(b), Fla. Const. ("The circuit courts shall have ... jurisdiction of appeals when provided by general law."); Fieselman v. State, 566 So.2d 768, 770 n. 1 (Fla.1990) ("Circuit courts lack jurisdiction to hear appeals from county court decisions declaring statutes invalid."). Seeking review of rulings against them by the circuit court on count two (as well as count four) the Messrs. Nichols filed a petition for writ of certiorari here.

By order entered September 28, 2004, on the State's motion in the certiorari proceeding, we quashed the circuit court's order insofar as it concerned the county court's disposition of count two, reinstated the appeal "concerning the county court's disposition of count two charging [the Nicholses] with violating section 370.093(2)(b), Florida Statutes" and transferred the reinstated appeal here from circuit court.[8]

III.

The statute under which Bob and Damon A. Nichols were found guilty proscribes the use in Florida waters of "gill or entangling nets," defined by reference to the state constitution,[9] and of any other net "constructed wholly or partially of monofilament or multistrand monofilament material," unless allowed by the Marine Fisheries Commission's rules. The statute provides:

The use of gill or entangling nets of any size is prohibited, as such nets are defined in s. 16, Art. X of the State Constitution. Any net constructed wholly or partially of monofilament or multistrand monofilament material, other than a hand thrown cast net, or a handheld landing or dip net, shall be considered to be an entangling net within the prohibition of s.16, Art. X of the State Constitution unless specifically authorized by rule of the commission. Multistrand monofilament material shall not be defined to include nets constructed of *1226 braided or twisted nylon, cotton, linen twine, or polypropylene twine.

§ 370.093(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2000). We have previously upheld the constitutional definition — which is not challenged here — against a claim of vagueness. See State v. Kirvin,

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Bluebook (online)
892 So. 2d 1221, 2005 WL 350332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nichols-fladistctapp-2005.