State v. Olson

35 Fla. Supp. 2d 113
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedJune 7, 1989
DocketCase No. 88-2719
StatusPublished

This text of 35 Fla. Supp. 2d 113 (State v. Olson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits 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. Olson, 35 Fla. Supp. 2d 113 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

P. KEVIN DAVEY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant, Karen E. Olson, seeks dismissal of the charge of Possession of Contraband at a County Detention Facility asserting that this criminal statute (Florida Statute § 951.22) is facially unconstitutional or in the alternative that the statute is unconstitutional as applied to her in this case. After reviewing the pleadings, hearing the evidence, considering the submissions of the parties, and conducting independent research, the Court finds that Florida Statute § 951.22 is unconstitutional on its face and in its application to the Defendant Olson. The [114]*114Court hereby incorporates those findings and conclusions announced at the hearing, to the extent they are not inconsistent with those set forth herein.

On June 11, 1988, Olson was interviewing inmates at the Leon County Jail in connection with her duties as a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. She chose to conduct these interviews as a jail visitor rather than through the alternative procedure which the Leon County SherilFs Department (LCSD) had established for members of the news media.1 While the Defendant was talking with one inmate, another inmate, Fred Madry, passed her some pieces of paper with writing on it. (Defendant’s Composite Exhibit No. 1.) This was observed by a correctional officer who detained and questioned the Defendant about them. The Defendant refused the officer’s request to relinquish the papers. After further discussion, Olson was allowed by the correctional staff to leave the jail without surrendering the papers. Thereafter, she was arrested by the Leon County Sheriff’s Department and charged with violation of F.S. § 951.22.2

Florida Statute § 951.22 provides:

“(1) It is unlawful, except through regular channels as duly authorized by the sheriff or officer in charge, to introduce into or possess upon the grounds of any county detention facility as defined in § 951.23 or to give to or receive from any inmate of any such facility wherever said inmate is located at the time or to take or to attempt to take or send therefrom any of the following articles which are hereby declared to be contraband for the purposes of this act, to wit: Any written or recorded communication; any currency or coin; any article of food or clothing; any intoxicating beverage or beverage which causes or may cause an intoxicating effect; any narcotic, hypnotic, or excitative drug or drug of any kind or nature, including nasal inhalators, sleeping pills, barbiturates, and controlled substances as defined in § 893.02(4); any firearm or any instrumentality [115]*115customarily used or which is intended to be used as a dangerous weapon; and any instrumentality of any nature that may be or is intended to be used as an aid in effecting or attempting to effect an escape from a county facility.
(2) Whoever violates subsection (1) shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082, § 775.083 or § 775.084.”

The Defendant has standing to challenge the constitutionality of this statute on vagueness or overbreadth grounds, Carricarte v State, 384 SO.2d 1261 (Fla. 1980); Tribune Company v Huffstettler, 489 So.2d 722 (Fla. 1986).

Statutes are presumed valid when properly enacted. Courts must vigorously apply this presumption when the constitutional validity of a statute is questioned. However, a statute must be reasonably definite and certain in its meaning. A statute is vague if persons of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning. Linville v State, 359 So.2d 450 (Fla. 1978); Cline v Fink Dairy Co., 274 U.S. 445 (1927).

In construing a criminal statute on a claim of vagueness, any doubt should be resolved in favor of the citizen and against the State. State v Wershow, 343 So.2d 605 (Fla. 1977). Moreover, when a statute impacts upon or impedes First Amendment freedoms it must be scrutinized carefully to insure that constitutional rights are not unduly implicated by virtue of its overbreadth or vagueness.

On its face, the statute in question would prevent the mere possession of a newspaper, driver’s license, legal pleading, or other written document by anyone at the jail, including an attorney visiting a client, a physician treating a sick inmate or a judge conducting first appearance hearings. While the State unquestionably has a vital interest in the security of county detention facilities, that interest, when balanced against the prohibition of conduct protected by the First Amendment, is not so great that the mere possession of harmless written communications can be the basis of a criminal violation. The State in enacting an overbroad statute which outlaws all written communications has made wholly innocent conduct3 the subject of criminal prosecution.

This statute as promulgated does not contain language sufficiently and reasonably definite to fairly apprise the citizens of the State of [116]*116Florida as to what conduct is or is not prohibited.4 Since a citizen of reasonable intelligence “must necessarily guess” as to which conduct is prohibited and which is permissible, this statute is unconstitutionally vague and violative of due process requirements of Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

In considering the merits of Defendant’s companion, overbreadth claim, this Court has carefully studied the Circuit Court’s order in State of Florida v Hardee, Case No. 85-139 (Fla. 3d Cir. Ct. March 18, 1986) and the District Court’s subsequent opinion in State v Hardee, 504 So.2d 33 (1st DCA 1987). Hardee involved the same penal statute and clearly more egregious conduct.5

The trial court found the statute unconstitutional on its face, unconstitutional as applied, and unconstitutional as an invalid delegation of legislative powers. The District Court reversed on the latter ground; affirmed on the unconstitutional application ground; and did not address the issue of the facial constitutionality of F. S. § 951.22. The analysis employed by the trial court in Hardee in finding this statute facially unconstitutional is equally appropriate to the instant case.

Although a statute concerning the regulation of articles possessed in or introduced into a jail facility “must be scrutinized in terms of those special needs” and functions of such a facility, the State still has a constitutional obligation to promulgate those statutes in a manner consistent with legitimate, public purposes. Such statutes should be drawn narrowly enough so they don’t unreasonably and unnecessarily infringe upon constitutional freedoms and rights.

Moreover, the identical items (Defendant’s Composite Exhibit No. 1) that formed the basis of the Defendant’s charge in this case could have been sent to her by Inmate Madry via the U. S. Mail pursuant to Rule 33-8.009(4) F.A.C. promulgated by the Department of Corrections (DOC) pursuant to the authority granted in Florida Statute § 951.23(5). Not only would the receipt of these “written communications” have been permissible, this mail would have been privileged

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Related

Cline v. Frink Dairy Co.
274 U.S. 445 (Supreme Court, 1927)
Wayte v. United States
470 U.S. 598 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Tribune Co. v. Huffstetler
489 So. 2d 722 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1986)
State v. Wershow
343 So. 2d 605 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1977)
Linville v. State
359 So. 2d 450 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)
State v. Hardee
504 So. 2d 33 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 Fla. Supp. 2d 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-olson-flacirct-1989.