REMY MORALES, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1981-11-10
No. 80-1188
Before HENDRY, NESBITT and JOR-GENSON, JJ.
407 So. 2d 230 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1981) Caution
Cited by 4 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

Remy Morales was convicted of making a counterfeit Indiana operator's license in violation of Florida Statute Section 831.29. On appeal, he challenged the statute as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and argued the evidence was insufficient due to discrepancies between his counterfeit and the official license. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed, finding the statute sufficiently clear and the evidence adequate to support conviction.


Holding

The statute is sufficiently clear and not unconstitutionally vague because 'similitude' has a well-understood meaning as 'likeness' or 'facsimile' that a person of common intelligence can understand. The evidence was sufficient to support conviction because the degree of similarity between the counterfeit and official license was a factual question properly resolved in favor of the state based on expert testimony that the counterfeit would have been believed valid.


Headnotes

[1] A statute is presumed constitutional, and any doubts are resolved in its favor.

[2] A statute violates due process if its language is so vague that persons of common intelligence must guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.

Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.”

Establishes the constitutional standard for vagueness that the defendant must meet to challenge the statute

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Morales made a counterfeit Indiana operator's license and possessed instruments for making counterfeit licenses. The counterfeit license differed from…

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.


Opinion of the Court
NESBITT, Judge.

NESBITT, Judge.

We reject the appellant’s contention that his conviction for making a counterfeit Indiana operator’s license and having instruments for making counterfeit operators’ licenses contrary to Section 831.29, Florida Statutes (1979) was procured under a constitutionally vague and overbroad statute. Specifically, the defendant contends that “in the similitude” fails to put an individual on notice as to the proscribed activity.

All doubts as to the validity of a statute are to be resolved in favor of its constitutionality. Hamilton v. State, 366 So. 2d 8 (Fla.1979); Brown v. State, 358 So. 2d 16 (Fla.1978).

It is an immutable principle that “a statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.” Cline v. Frink Dairy Co., 274 U.S. 445, 459, 47 S.Ct. 681, 684, 71 L.Ed. 1146, 1153 (1927); Falco v. State, 407 So. 2d 203 (Fla.1981).

In Orlando Sports Stadium, Inc. v. State ex rel. Powell, 262 So. 2d 881, 884 (Fla.1972), the court stated: “To make a statute sufficiently certain to comply with constitutional requirements, it is not necessary that it furnish detailed plans and specifications of the acts or conduct prohibited. Impossible standards are not required.” Accord, State v. Lindsay, 284 So. 2d 377 (Fla.1973).

Where the language conveys a sufficiently definite warning to express the proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practices, no constitutional violation has occurred. See, Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498 (1957); State v. Dye, 346 So. 2d 538 (Fla. 1977).

Applying these principles to the present case, we find that the statute sufficiently defined the proscribed conduct. Webster’s New International Dictionary 2340 (2d Ed. 1960) defines “similitude” as “one that is like or similar, a facsimile, counterpart” and it is a synonym for likeness. In the overall context of the statute, the word has a clear meaning, and that meaning will be given effect. City of Miami v. Kayfetz, 92 So. 2d 798 (Fla.1957). It should not be given a construction which is unduly technical. State v. Allen, 362 So. 2d 10 (Fla.1978).

Consequently, the prohibited conduct was sufficiently described in the statute so that a person of common intelligence could discern the activities which were proscribed. We also reject the appellant’s contention that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because of the many discrepancies between the official Indiana license and the license made by the defendant. According to the testimony, the following dissimilarities from the official license was discernible: (1) the counterfeit license was smaller; (2) it did not contain an issue date; (3) it contained no Indiana State seal; (4) the coloration of the background was different; (5) there was no re-examination date; (6) the borders were different; (7) a different numbering system was employed; (8) there was no section for anatomical gifts; and (9) the word “pursuant” was misspelled “persuant.”

In support of the state’s position, the Director of Drivers Licenses and Examinations of the State of Indiana testified that if he had been shown the license in question he would have believed it to be valid. A City of Miami police officer rendered the same opinion.

The degree of similarity between the counterfeit and the official license was a question of fact resolved below in favor of the state.

On appeal, we must assume that the trier of fact believed the testimony most damaging to the defendant and that he drew conclusions from these facts most unfavorable to the defendant. E.Y. v. State, 390 So. 2d 776 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980); Parrish v. State, 97 So. 2d 356 (Fla. 1st DCA 1957), cert. denied, 101 So. 2d 817 (Fla.1958). This court will not substitute its judgment for that of the trier of fact nor pit its judgment against those determinations properly rendered below. E.Y. v. State, supra. All conflicts and reasonable inferences therefrom are resolved to support the judgment of conviction. Wooten v. State, 361 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Dawson v. State, 338 So. 2d 242 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976).

Consequently, we will not disturb the findings of the trier of fact.

The other points raised by this appeal are without merit. The defendant’s judgments of conviction and sentences are affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • McGUIRE v. State, 489 So. 2d 729 (Fla. 1986)
    …person of common intelligence would be perfectly aware from the posted notices that an adult female is prohibited from jogging topless on Air Force Beach. See South Florida Free Beaches, 734 F. 2d at 611; Magee, 259 So. 2d at 140; Morales v. State, 407 So. 2d 230, 231 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). We stress our belief that the Department of Natural Resources could have and should have utilized more precise language in drafting rule 16D-2.04(l)(e). If the government wishes to prohibit the public exhibition of genitali…
  • Bellsouth Advertising & Publ'g Corp. v. Metro. Dade Cnty., 497 So. 2d 1321 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)
    …102 S.Ct. 1186, 71 L.Ed.2d 362 (1982); Florida Businessmen for Free Enterprise v. City of Hollywood, 673 F. 2d 1213 (11th Cir.1982); Trushin v. State, 425 So. 2d 1126, 1130 (Fla.1982); Sanicola v. State, 384 So. 2d 152 (Fla.1980); Morales v. State, 407 So. 2d 230, 231 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). The final declaratory decree under review is therefore in all respects Affirmed.…

Authorities Cited (16 total)

View all 16 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw