STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
DAVID STEPHAN SAWKO, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1993-09-10
No. 92-1763
GRIFFIN and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur.
624 So. 2d 751 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1993) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 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

Florida appeals the dismissal of a burglary charge against a maintenance employee who had consent to enter apartments with a master key. The court holds that an employee can be convicted of burglary if he exceeds the scope of his authorized consent, even if he generally has permission to enter the premises.


Holding

A burglary conviction can be based on exceeding the scope of consent, even when a person has general authorization to enter. The scope of consent is determined by the facts of each case and may be limited to specific times, places, or purposes.


Headnotes

[1] A license or invitation to enter premises for a specific purpose does not insulate a defendant from a burglary conviction if the entry is made for an unauthorized purpose…

[2] A servant is guilty of burglary if they exceed their rights with respect to the time of entering or the place into which they enter.

Previewing 2 of 4 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 license or invitation to enter only for the purpose of performing services does not necessarily insulate a defendant from a burglary conviction when entry is made for a purpose not authorized.”

Establishes the central holding that authorized entry for one purpose does not prevent burglary conviction if entry is made for an unauthorized purpose.

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

Sawko was a maintenance employee at an apartment complex with consent to enter apartments via master key for service calls. He made a service call on …

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
PETERSON, Judge.

PETERSON, Judge.

The State appeals an order granting David Sawko’s motion to dismiss a burglary charge pursuant to Rule 3.190(c)(4), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. We vacate the order. Sawko was a maintenance employee of an apartment complex and had consent to enter any of the apartments in the course of his employment by means of a master key. He used the key to make a service call on January 20, 1992 and he alleges that he returned on January 21, 1992 to complete the service call and never entered the apartment after having the consent withdrawn. The State’s amended traverse alleges that the second entry on January 21, 1992 was not for the purpose of making a service call, but was specifically to “steal prescription medicine and/or drugs.”

The State contends that a material issue of fact exists that precludes dismissal of the burglary count, that is, whether Sawko exceeded the scope of consent. We agree. A license or invitation to enter only for the purpose of performing services does not necessarily insulate a defendant from a burglary conviction when entry is made for a purpose not authorized.

While no Florida ease has been located that considers the issue of whether a burglary charge can be based upon a defendant’s exceeding the scope of consent, other jurisdictions have upheld burglary convictions when entry was not on authorized occasions or for authorized purposes. State v. Schantek, 120 Wis.2d 79, 353 N.W. 2d 832 (Wis.App. 1984) (extent of consent determined by facts of particular case and may reveal that consent was all-encompassing, strictly limited, or somewhere in between; burglary conviction proper of employee who, with key provided by employer, entered premises after hours and took money); LeFlore v. State, 17 Ark.App. 117, 704 S.W. 2d 641 (Ark.App.1986) (courthouse maintenance worker who borrowed keys after hours to retrieve tools properly convicted of burglary because license to enter one area of courthouse did not authorize entry into other area to steal money)’; Spencer v. State, 653 S.W. 2d 585 (Tex.App. 13th Dist.1983), reversed on other grounds, 672 S.W. 2d 451 (Tex.Cr.App. 1984) (state proved lack of consent where thief had consent to enter apartments only to exterminate bugs and where thief was not employee of exterminating company or performing extermination on date of offenses).

We do not agree with Sawko’s argument that as long as his consent to entry for maintenance exists, he can never be convicted of burglary. The better rule is that set forth in 12A C.J.S. Burglary § 23 (1980), that a servant “is guilty of' burglary if he exceeds his rights either with respect to the time of entering or the place into which he enters.” The state alleged that Sawko’s license to enter was limited to those times when his employment required entry for service calls or maintenance. The mere fact that a person has a pass key and authorization to enter for maintenance purposes does not extend his license to enter an apartment for any purpose at any time of day and render him immune from a charge of burglary.1

The order dismissing the charge of burglary is vacated and we remand for further proceedings.

ORDER VACATED; REMANDED.

GRIFFIN and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur. . The dismissal of the burglary charge resulted from the lower court's erroneous conclusion that the jury instruction on burglary precluded consideration of the scope of the invitation or license.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Nunez v. State, 683 So. 2d 208 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Novaton v. State, 634 So. 2d 607 (Fla.1994); State v. Sawko, 624 So. 2d 751 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993); Dean v. State, 580 So. 2d 808 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991); Wall v. State, 525 So. 2d 486 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988).…
  • DuBois v. State, 247 So. 3d 34 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)
  • Gruver v. State, 816 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)
    …conviction of this offense. However, because the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, supports the conclusion that Ms. Moses limited her consent to entry into the home only to use the restroom, we find no error. Sawko v. State, 624 So. 2d 751 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993); Dakes v. State, 545 So. 2d 939 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). Gruver himself admitted that he “never had permission or consent to go upstairs.” The trial court properly denied Graver’s motion for a judgment of acquittal. AFFIRMED. COBB a…

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw