ERNEST TYRONE YOUNG, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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An information alleging disjunctive acts, one a felony and one a misdemeanor, is insufficient to invoke the circuit court's subject matter jurisdiction.
[1] An information alleging disjunctive offenses, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor, is insufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the circuit court.
[2] A circuit court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a misdemeanor charge when it is not arising out of the same circumstances as a felony charge.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant was charged by information with "unlawfully and feloniously sell or deliver to another person, cannabis, a controlled substance". The inform…
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COWART, Judge.
This case involves disjunctive allegations in an information which ambiguously seek to invoke the jurisdiction of the circuit court. The appellant was charged by information with two counts which alleged that on two different dates appellant did “unlawfully and feloniously sell or deliver to another person, cannabis, a controlled substance commonly known as marijuana, in violation of Florida Statute 893.13(l)(a)(2); third degree felony” (emphasis supplied).
Cannabis is a controlled substance named in section 893.03(l)(c), Florida Statutes (1981). Section 893.13(l)(a)(2) makes it a third degree felony for “any person to sell ... or deliver ... a controlled substance named or described in s. 893.03(l)(c).. .. ” However, section 893.13(l)(f) provides that the delivery without consideration of not more than 20 grams of marijuana is a misdemeanor of the first degree.
An information which charges delivery of cannabis without specifying the amount of the cannabis delivered or alleging that the delivery was for consideration charges only a misdemeanor. Boley v. State, 273 So. 2d 109 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973), cert. discharged, 287 So. 2d 668 (Fla.1973); Pope v. State, 268 So. 2d 173 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972), cert. discharged, 283 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 1973). On the other hand, the word “sale” by definition means a delivery with consideration and is therefore sufficient in itself to charge a felony. State v. Stewart, 374 So. 2d 1381 (Fla.1979). Therefore, the information in this case alleges that appellant either committed a felony or a misdemeanor. A circuit court has jurisdiction of all felonies and of all misdemeanors arising out of the same circumstances as a felony which is also charged. § 26.012(2)(d), Fla. Stat. (1981). A county court has jurisdiction over all misdemeanor cases not cognizable by the circuit courts. § 34.01(l)(a), Fla.Stat. (1981). When an information charges only a misdemeanor a circuit court has no subject matter jurisdiction over the case. Radford v. State, 360 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978); Boley, 273 So. 2d 109; Pope, 268 So. 2d 173. When a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction it has no power to decide the case and any judgment entered is absolutely null and void, can be set aside and stricken from the record on motion at any time and may be collaterally attacked. Malone v. Meres, 91 Fla. 709, 109 So. 677 (1926).
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.140(o) relating to sufficiency as to the form of a charging document is not controlling here. This rule does not validate constitutional and jurisdictional infirmities.1 The issue in this case is not the accused’s due process right to notice of the charges but his right to be tried by a court which possesses the sovereign power to try the case.2 This sovereign power is the subject matter jurisdiction of the court. Such subject matter jurisdiction must be properly invoked and perfected.3
In State v. Black, 385 So. 2d 1372 (Fla. 1980), the Supreme Court of Florida held that a conviction obtained pursuant to a grand jury indictment which did not facially indicate the jurisdiction of the court was void. The court stated “Proper jurisdictional allegations are as essential in an accusatory writ as are those relating to material elements of the crime.” Citing Pope v. State, 268 So. 2d 173 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972); Conner v. State, 29 Fla. 455, 10 So. 891 (1892). Id. at 1375. In Black, the court answered in the affirmative the certified question “Is a grand jury indictment insufficient to sustain a conviction when it fails to specify the place where the crime allegedly occurred, even though this allegation is subsequently supplied by a bill of particulars, the defendant is not hindered in the preparation or presentation of his defense, and the situs of the crime is proven at trial?” 4
We have previously held that an information which alleged in the alternative5 a felony or a misdemeanor was insufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the circuit court. See Nelson v. State, 398 So. 2d 920 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981).
Because the circuit court’s jurisdiction was not properly invoked it did not have jurisdiction and appellant’s convictions are void and are
REVERSED.
DAUKSCH and SHARP, JJ., concur. . An information or indictment which wholly fails to allege a crime by totally omitting an essential element cannot be cured by a bill of particulars. “[T]he total omission goes to the jurisdiction of the trial court.” Brewer v. State, 413 So. 2d 1217, 1220 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), pet. den. 426 So. 2d 25 (Fla.1983). See also State v. Gray, 435 So. 2d 816 (Fla.1983); State v. Black, 385 So. 2d 1372, 1375 (Fla. 1980).
. It is because judicial subject matter jurisdiction is a sovereign power that its lack cannot be remedied by the acquiescence or consent of the parties. Justice Whitfield notes these distinctions in an in-depth discussion of subject matter jurisdiction in Malone v. Meres, 91 Fla. 709, 109 So. 677 (1926).
. See Florida Power & Light Co. v. Canal Authority, 423 So. 2d 421 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982), review denied, 434 So. 2d 887 (Fla.1983).
. Cf. Tucker v. State, 417 So. 2d 1006 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) (failure to allege venue, while fundamental defect, may not be presented for first time on appeal). Tucker is being reviewed by the Florida supreme court, case No. 62,683.
. We recognize that disjunctive pleading is not always bad as when the words or concepts alleged in the alternative are legal equivalents. In some circumstances it is specifically permitted. See State v. Rand, 231 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970); Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.140(k)(5). Had the information in the instant case alleged the “sale or delivery of more than 20 grams of cannabis” it would have alleged alternative means of proving a felony and would have properly invoked the jurisdiction of the circuit court.
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Fike v. State, 455 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)…in itself to charge a felony. State v. Stewart, 374 So. 2d 1381 (Fla.1979). Thus, the information in this case alleges that Fike either committed a felony or a misdemeanor. In Nelson v. State, 398 So. 2d 920 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981) and Young v. State, 439 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983), this court held that an information which alleged in the alternative a felony or a misdemeanor was insufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the circuit court. We now recede from our decisions in Nelson and Young. Fike was char…
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Rodriguez v. State, 472 So. 2d 1294 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)…elivery of cannabis without specifying the amount of cannabis or that the delivery was for a consideration. We have held that such an information charges only a misdemeanor. Fike v. State, 455 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). See also Young v. State, 439 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983).…
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State v. Carmelo O. Mena, 471 So. 2d 1297 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)…ormation, we find that the state has permissibly alleged in the disjunctive or alternative several acts by which the offense of trafficking in cocaine can be committed.1’2 See State v. Rand, 231 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 3d DCA 1970). See also Young v. State, 439 So. 2d 306, 308 n.5 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983) (receded from in part in Fike v. State, 455 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)); West v. State, 456 So. 2d 946 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). The cases relied upon by the court in dismissing the conspiracy count we find to be inappli…
Previewing 3 of 15 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited (17 total)
- Malone v. Meres, 109 So. 677 (Fla. 1926)
- State v. Gray, 435 So. 2d 816 (Fla. 1983)
- Brewer v. State, 413 So. 2d 1217 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)
- Pope v. State, 268 So. 2d 173 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972)
- State v. Pope, 283 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 1973)
- State v. Theron Black, 385 So. 2d 1372 (Fla. 1980)
- Miller v. Miller, 417 So. 2d 1006 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)
- Royal Frozen Fish Co., Inc. v. Amer Seafoods, Inc., 423 So. 2d 421 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)
- Fla. Power & Light Co. v. The Canal Auth. OF the State OF Fla., 423 So. 2d 421 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982)
- Radford v. State, 360 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978)