JOHN MARTIN HIGDON, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1986-05-15
No. 66753
BOYD, C.J., and ADKINS, OVERTON, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., concur., McDONALD, J., concurs in result only.
490 So. 2d 1252 Florida Supreme Court (1986) Negative Treatment
Cited by 60 cases

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Holding

The court held that vehicular homicide is not a necessarily lesser included offense of DWI manslaughter.


Facts & Procedural History

Defendant was charged with manslaughter by driving while intoxicated. The issue arose from the classification of vehicular homicide as a lesser includ…

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Opinion of the Court
EHRLICH, Justice.

EHRLICH, Justice.

This case is before us to answer a question certified by the district court to be of great public importance, to wit:

IS THE SCHEDULE OF LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES PROMULGATED BY THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT IN 1981 IN ERROR IN CLASSIFYING VEHICULAR HOMICIDE (§ 782.071) AS A NECESSARILY LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSE OF D.W.I. MANSLAUGHTER (§ 860.01)?

Higdon v. State, 465 So. 2d 1309, 1311 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(5), Fla. Const. We answer the certified question in the affirmative. Houser v. State, 474 So. 2d 1193 (Fla.1985).1 We adopt the reasoning of the dissent of Judge Dauksch to the decision below. 465 So. 2d at 1311. See, e.g., Ray v. State, 231 So. 2d 813 (Fla.1969). We quash the decision of the district court and remand for action in accord with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

BOYD, C.J., and ADKINS, OVERTON, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., concur. McDONALD, J., concurs in result only.

. Defendant was charged by information with two counts (2 victims) of manslaughter by driving while intoxicated pursuant to section 860.01, Florida Statutes (1981). If he had also been charged with vehicular homicide pursuant to section 782.071, Florida Statutes (1981), the present problem would not have arisen.


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Cited By (29 total)

  • …age of the award for permanent impairment caused by the natural progression of pre-existing conditions” (465 So. 2d at 658). Our review and analysis is, of course, guided by the supreme court’s recent admonitions in Daniel v. Holmes Lumber Company, 490 So. 2d 1252 (Fla.1986), that “Florida’s workers’ compensation laws are remedial in nature and the courts should resolve any doubts as to statutory construction in favor of providing benefits to injured workers,” and that we should concentrate “on the plain lang…
  • …the statute must be construed in her favor. By resolving statutory ambiguity in favor of employees, when construing the Workers' Compensation Act as it existed before January 1, 1994, we have followed the teaching of Daniel v. Holmes Lumber Company, 490 So. 2d 1252, 1256 (Fla.1986) ("Florida's workers’ compensation laws are remedial in nature and the courts should resolve any doubts as to statutory construction in favor of providing benefits to injured workers.”). See, e.g., Gates Energy Prods, v. Wheeler, 637…
  • Byrd v. State, 531 So. 2d 1004 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988)
    …a reckless manner likely to cause the death of or great bodily harm to another, and that there be a causal relationship between that recklessness and the victim’s death. Higdon v. State, 465 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985), quashed on other grounds, 490 So. 2d 1252 (Fla.1986). The degree of negligence necessary to sustain a conviction for vehicular homicide falls short of culpable negligence but is more than a mere failure to use ordinary care. McCreary v. State, 371 So. 2d 1024 (Fla.1979). In the present cas…

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