RICHARD D. FISKE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1978-12-21
No. 50796
ADKINS, HATCHETT and ALDERMAN, JJ., concur., ENGLAND, C. J., and OVERTON and SUNDBERG, JJ., dissent.
366 So. 2d 423 Florida Supreme Court (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Fiske was convicted of felony possession of psilocybin after being found with wild mushrooms containing the controlled substance. The Florida Supreme Court reversed his conviction, holding that the statute criminalizing psilocybin violated due process because it failed to give fair warning that wild mushrooms containing psilocybin constitute a crime.


Holding

The conviction is reversed because the statute, as applied to wild mushrooms, violates due process by failing to provide fair warning that possession of those particular mushrooms is unlawful. While the statute does not have a facial vagueness problem, it cannot be constitutionally applied to naturally occurring psilocybin-containing mushrooms without specification of which mushrooms contain the controlled substance.


Headnotes

[1] A statute may not be applied constitutionally if it fails to give fair warning that possession of a particular item is a crime.

[2] A criminal statute is unconstitutionally applied when it does not advise a person of ordinary intelligence that a substance is contained in a particular natural form.

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Key Quotes

“The statute as presently framed, however, gives no information as to what plants may contain psilocybin in its natural state. More particularly, the statute does not advise a person of ordinary and common intelligence that this substance is contained in a particular variety of mushroom.”

Establishes the core constitutional defect: lack of fair warning that wild mushrooms are covered by the statute

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Facts & Procedural History

Fiske was arrested in Collier County emerging from a field with a bag of wild mushrooms. Chemical tests confirmed the mushrooms contained psilocybin, …

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Opinion of the Court
BOYD, Justice.

BOYD, Justice.

This is a direct appeal from a felony conviction in Collier County Circuit Court. The court directly passed on the validity of a state statute’s application. We have jurisdiction. Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution.

Richard Fiske, appellant, was arrested as he emerged from a field in Collier County. Found near him was a bag of wild mushrooms. The mushrooms were taken into the custody of the Collier County Sheriff’s Department. After tests, a chemist concluded that they contained psilocybin, a substance controlled by the Florida Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, Chapter 893, Florida Statutes.' Appellant was tried by jury for possession of the psilocybin, a felony of the third degree, and found guilty. Adjudication of guilt was withheld and he was placed on probation.

Appellant raises a number of issues, both constitutional and related to errors in his trial. We address only one, raised by him initially in a pre-trial motion, because it is dispositive of the appeal. The issue is whether his conviction under the present statute violates the Due Process Clauses of the federal or Florida Constitutions. We hold that it does.

Section 893.03, Florida Statutes (1975), gives the standards and schedules of substances controlled by the Drug Abuse Act. Subsection (1) is denominated Schedule I. The subsection recites that substances listed in Schedule I have high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in the United States. Section 893.03(l)(c)(15), part of Schedule I, controls any material which contains a quantity of the hallucinogenic substance “psilocybin.” Section 893.-13(l)(a)(2) makes possession of psilocybin a felony of the third degree. The statute makes no mention of psilocybic mushrooms or, for that matter, of any other psilocybic organic form that grows wild. If the statute were to specify that psilocybin was contained in certain identifiable mushrooms and were to name those mushrooms, thereby apprising a prospective defendant that possession of those mushrooms is unlawful, it would not be unconstitutional as applied. The statute as presently framed, however, gives no information as to what plants may contain ' psilocybin in its natural state. More particularly, the statute does not advise a person of ordinary and common intelligence that this substance is contained in a particular variety of mushroom. The statute, therefore, may not be applied constitutionally to appellant. It does not give fair warning that possession of the mushrooms possessed by appellant is a crime. See Bouie v. Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964); State v. Winters, 346 So. 2d 991 (Fla.1977).

There is no vagueness problem with the statute on its face. It explicitly controls any material which contains psilocybin and makes possession of the material a felony. In capsule, pill or similar form the statute may be applied constitutionally for people will be wary of the criminal liabilities of possession of nonprescribed drugs in their common medicinal forms and will not ordinarily possess them innocently or without knowing of their content.

The state points to evidence of scien-ter in the record. The statement made by appellant when confronted by law enforcement agents is ambiguous and susceptible of innocent explanation as well as being indicative of criminal knowledge. Ambiguities in criminal proceedings are resolved in favor of the accused.

The statute is held to have been applied unconstitutionally in this case. Appellant’s conviction is reversed.

It is so ordered.

ADKINS, HATCHETT and ALDERMAN, JJ., concur. ENGLAND, C. J., and OVERTON and SUNDBERG, JJ., dissent.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Ferro, 683 So. 2d 657 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Fiske v. State, 366 So. 2d 423 (Fla.1978). GLICKSTEIN, DELL and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.…
  • A.B. v. State, 141 So. 3d 647 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)
    …(Fla. 4th DCA 2012) (quoting Theophile v. [*649] State, 78 So. 3d 574, 578 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)). Here, the State established only the juvenile’s presence, questionable behavior, and a comment that did not amount to an admission. See Fiske v. State, 366 So. 2d 423, 424 (Fla.1978) (holding that statements made when confronted by law enforcement that are “ambiguous and susceptible of innocent explanation as well as being indicative of criminal knowledge” must be resolved in favor of the accused). The State rel…
  • St. Elmo Cash, Jr. v. State, 609 So. 2d 1356 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …were based on an incorrect legal premise. For this reason, I would also reject the state’s argument that Cash’s conviction must be affirmed because he is bound by his admission that he knew that these funds belonged to the state. See Fiske v. State, 366 So. 2d 423, 424 (Fla.1978) (Where defendant’s statement to law enforcement agents “is ambiguous and susceptible of innocent explanation as well as being indicative of criminal knowledge,” such ambiguity must be resolved in favor of the accused.). D. There is…

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