THOMAS JAMES WRIGHT, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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.
A person who is eleven years, ten months, and twenty-one days old does not fall within the statutory classification of 'eleven years of age or younger'.
Defendant was convicted of sexual battery on a victim who was eleven years, ten months, and twenty-one days old. The defendant argued the victim was o…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
PER CURIAM.
The question on this appeal is whether a person of eleven years, ten months and twenty-one days of age falls within the statutory classification of “eleven years of age or younger.” See Section 794.011(2). We answer in the negative and therefore reverse.
Thomas James Wright was convicted of committing a sexual battery upon a person of eleven years of age or younger in violation of Section 794.011(2), Florida Statutes (1977). The victim was eleven years, ten months and twenty-one days of age on the date of the offense and thus the defendant consistently argued throughout the proceedings below, that the victim was older than the statutory requirement of eleven years of age. We agree.
The trial court did not have the benefit of our decision in State v. Carroll, 378 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 385 So. 2d 761 (Fla.1980) in which we held that the term “eleven years of age or younger” encompasses the time between a person’s birth and their eleventh birthday. Inasmuch as the victim in this case had passed her eleventh birthday, defendant’s conviction and sentence must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
LETTS, C. J., and GLICKSTEIN and HURLEY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
State v. Erling Knud Ove Hansen, Jr., 404 So. 2d 199 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)…context. See Annotation, 73 A.L.R.2d 874 (1960). We recognize, however, that our conclusion is in direct conflict with that reach by the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District. State v. Carroll, 378 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Wright v. State, 390 So. 2d 118 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). See also Buford v. State, 403 So. 2d 943, (Fla. 1981), which invalidates the imposition of a sentence of death under the statute here in question. Accordingly, this cause is reversed and remanded to the trial court for proceedi…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Carroll, 378 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979)