MICHAEL DENARD SMITH, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1987-10-22
No. BQ-485
SMITH, C.J., and WENTWORTH, J., concur.
513 So. 2d 1367 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1987) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 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

Michael Denard Smith appeals a probation condition requiring him to abstain from alcohol as part of his sentence for cocaine possession. The Florida First District Court of Appeal affirms, holding that the alcohol abstinence condition is reasonably related to his rehabilitation despite alcohol not being illegal.


Holding

The trial court did not abuse its discretion. The alcohol abstinence condition is reasonably related to rehabilitation because, given Smith's history of substance abuse, the court could reasonably conclude that alcohol use might serve as a substitute for illegal drugs or lower his inhibitions to abuse drugs.


Headnotes

[1] Probation conditions must be reasonably related to the offense and essential to the probationer's rehabilitation and public protection.

[2] Trial courts are vested with broad discretionary authority to grant probation and set its terms.

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Key Quotes

“Probation conditions must be reasonably related to the offense and should provide a standard of conduct essential to the probationer's rehabilitation in addition to the protection of the public.”

Establishes the legal standard for evaluating the validity of probation conditions.

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Facts & Procedural History

In April 1986, Smith was observed dropping drug paraphernalia and admitted to a police officer that he had just injected cocaine. He was originally ch…

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Opinion of the Court
JOANOS, Judge.

JOANOS, Judge.

Michael Denard Smith appeals the sentence for his conviction of possession of cocaine. He argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it ordered as a condition of his probation that he abstain from drinking any alcoholic beverages. We affirm.

In April, 1986, a police officer observed appellant drop a hypodermic syringe, needle and a shoelace on the floor of a building in Tallahassee. Smith had punctured a hole on the top of his hand which was bleeding and he admitted to the officer that there was cocaine in the syringe and he had just taken the injection. Smith was originally charged with delivery of cocaine, but he agreed to a plea bargain with the state whereby he would identify his source in exchange for a plea of no contest to the possession of cocaine and a sentence of three years probation.

The conditions of Smith’s probation were: (1) that he not indulge in any drugs and submit to random urinalysis, and (2) that he abstain from drinking any alcohol. The second condition was imposed in spite of a strong defense objection and is the issue challenged on appeal.

Probation conditions must be reasonably related to the offense and should provide a standard of conduct essential to the probationer’s rehabilitation in addition to the protection of the public. “By his or her conviction, the probationer has already demonstrated a need for supervised control”. Grubbs v. State, 373 So. 2d 905, 909 (Fla.1979). Also, under Florida law the trial court is vested with broad discretionary authority to grant probation and to set the terms thereof. See section 948.03 Florida Statutes (1985); Dearth v. State, 390 So. 2d 108, 110 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). Further, the trial court’s determination is subject only to the test of reasonableness, and the defendant’s consent to the terms of probation, if they are reasonable, is not material to their legality. Id.

This court has stated that:

In determining whether a condition of probation is reasonably i elated to rehabilitation, a condition is invalid if it bears no relationship to the crime for which the probationer was convicted, relates to conduct which itself is not criminal and requires or forbids conduct which is not reasonably related to future criminality.

Howland v. State, 420 So. 2d 918, 919 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), citing Rodriguez v. State, 378 So. 2d 7 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). The state has argued that the “no alcohol” condition of probation is reasonable in light of appellant’s history of substance abuse. The trial judge specifically addressed this point when he stated, “You sound like from reading your presentence report, you’ve got enough problems here that if you get involved in alcohol, it may lead you to this other stuff, too”. And after defense counsel’s objection to the condition, the court stated, “Well, I’m not going to lift it because I believe that with the problems he has, if he starts on that it’s going to trigger off something else. I will reset this, if you like, and set it for trial”. Appellant’s counsel replied that they would rather stand by the plea.

The trial court specifically considered the impact of the “no alcohol” condition on appellant’s chances of successfully completing his probation, and we find that, although alcohol consumption is not illegal, the court could reasonably conclude that appellant might come to rely on or use alcohol as an intoxicant to excess as a substitute for the illegal drugs he had been abusing, or while under the influence of alcohol, succumb to his desires to abuse illegal drugs. In light of the above, we did not find appellant’s argument persuasive that the condition prohibiting alcohol consumption was intended as punishment. See also Heatherly v. State, 343 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 4th DCA 1977), where the district court found that the probation condition forbidding defendant to use intoxicants or visit places where intoxicants are sold, was not inconsistent, unreasonable or unlawful with respect to defendant’s conviction for issuing worthless checks.

Accordingly, appellant’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.

SMITH, C.J., and WENTWORTH, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Rowland v. State, 548 So. 2d 812 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
    …asonable and the probation order does not require that appellant completely refrain from drinking alcohol. We agree with the state. The conditions are reasonably related to the conviction for possession of a controlled substance. See Smith v. State, 513 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987) (no abuse of discretion in ordering abstention from alcohol where probationer was convicted of possession of cocaine). Additionally, the trial court did not order complete abstention from alcohol; it only ordered that appellant r…
  • Evans v. State, 608 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …cer. We reverse. A condition of probation must be reasonable, and must be “rationally related to the nature of the crime and aimed at encouraging the defendant’s rehabilitation.” Larson v. State, 572 So. 2d 1368, 1370-71 (Fla.1991); Smith v. State, 513 So. 2d 1367, 1368 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Moreover, a contemporaneous objection is not a prerequisite to appeal an illegal condition of probation, or a condition of probation that “is so egregious as to be the equivalent of fundamental error.” Larson, 572 So. 2d a…
  • Morganti v. State, 573 So. 2d 820 (Fla. 1991)
    …L.Ed.2d 221 (1983); Tate v. Short, 401 U.S. 395 (1971). We also reject Morganti’s claim that the trial judge was prohibited from imposing a term of probation over his objection. See Woods v. State, 542 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989); Smith v. State, 513 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Dearth v. State, 390 So. 2d 108 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). We note that these two additional claims are now moot since the sentencing judge vacated the $10,000 fine and terminated Morganti’s probation subsequent to our accepting juris…

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