PAMELA L. LEE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Pamela Lee appealed the denial of her postconviction motion challenging her classification as a habitual felony offender. The trial court relied on State v. Barnes to reject her argument that two predicate offenses arising from the same criminal episode should not support habitual offender status. The appellate court affirmed but certified an unsettled legal question to the Florida Supreme Court.
The court affirmed the trial court's denial of Lee's postconviction motion but certified to the Florida Supreme Court the question of whether State v. Barnes permits habitual offender classification based on predicate convictions from the same criminal episode.
[1] A prior conviction arising from the same criminal episode as another prior conviction may serve as a predicate offense for habitual felony offender status.
[2] The Florida Supreme Court's holding in State v. …
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“DOES THE HOLDING IN STATE V. BARNES, 595 S0.2D 22 (FLA.1992), ALLOW FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE TREATED AS A HABITUAL FELONY OFFENDER PURSUANT TO SECTION 775.084(1)(A)(1), FLORIDA STATUTES (1989), WHEN BOTH PREDICATE OFFENSES GREW OUT OF THE SAME CRIMINAL EPISODE?”
The certified question to the Florida Supreme Court capturing the unresolved legal issue at the heart of the appeal
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePamela Lee was classified as a habitual felony offender under Florida Statutes section 775.084(1)(a) based on two predicate convictions. Lee argued th…
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PER CURIAM.
Pamela Lee challenges the denial of her postconviction motion which questions the propriety of her classification as a habitual felony offender pursuant to section 775.084(l)(a), Florida Statutes (1989). In her motion she alleges that the two predicate offenses utilized to qualify her both grew out of the same criminal episode. The trial court denied her motion in reliance on State v. Barnes, 595 So. 2d 22 (Fla.1992), wherein the Florida Supreme Court interpreted the relevant statute not to require sequential convictions to establish the necessary predicates.1 In that opinion two concurring justices agreed only because the two convictions under consideration, although not sequential,2 arose from separate criminal episodes.
Since Barnes this distinction has been visited only once by a district court. In Cooper v. State, 625 So. 2d 1326 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993), a divided panel determined that two convictions arising from the same criminal episode provided the necessary predicate to classify an offender as a habitual felon.
We affirm the trial court’s denial of Ms. Lee’s postconviction motion, but feel the question she raises, as it applies to convictions growing out of the same criminal episode, has not been specifically addressed, and is a question of great public importance. Accordingly, we certify the following question to the Florida Supreme Court:
DOES THE HOLDING IN STATE V. BARNES, 595 S0.2D 22 (FLA.1992), ALLOW FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE TREATED AS A HABITUAL FELONY OFFENDER PURSUANT TO SECTION 775.084(1)(A)(1), FLORIDA STATUTES (1989), WHEN BOTH PREDICATE OFFENSES GREW OUT OF THE SAME CRIMINAL EPISODE?
The denial of Ms. Lee’s motion by the trial . court is affirmed.
DANAHY, A.C.J., and PATTERSON and QUINCE, JJ., concur. . With the addition of section 775.084(5), Florida Statutes (1993), the legislature has substantially resolved questions raised in this appeal and related issues pertinent to predicate offenses as applied after the effective date of that amendment.
. The relevant cases refer to "sequential” convictions as those in which the latter criminal conduct postdates the conviction for the earlier offense. State v. Barnes, 595 So. 2d 22 (Fla.1992).
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Mancini v. State, 693 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)…ions did not arise out of one criminal episode. This case is controlled by State v. Barnes, 595 So. 2d 22 (Fla.1992), in which the supreme court held that the statute did not require the predicate convictions to be sequential. See also Lee v. State, 685 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); Cooper v. State, 625 So. 2d 1326 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). Although the legislature amended the habitual offender statute after Barnes to require that prior convictions be sequential, that amendment is prospective only. § 775.084(5)…
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Garcia v. State, 145 So. 3d 936 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)…So. 3d 132 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009); Ward v. State, 946 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Brown v. State, 827 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Cook v. State, 816 So. 2d 773 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Anderson v. State, 779 So. 2d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000); Lee v. State, 685 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); Ives v. State, 993 So. 2d 117 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); Quintana v. State, 913 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005); Clayton v. State, 904 So. 2d 660 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005); Sampson v. State, 832 So. 2d 251 (Fla. 5th DCA [*937] 2002); LaMar v.…
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Ira Bernard Parker v. State, 197 So. 3d 612 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See § 775.084(4)(e), Fla. Stat. (1989); State v. Matthews, 891 So. 2d 479 (Fla.2004); Parker v. State, 182 So. 3d 650 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015) (table decision); Lee v. State, 685 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); Lewis v. State, 625 So. 2d 102 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). SILBERMAN, WALLACE, and SALARIO, JJ., Concur.…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Barnes, 595 So. 2d 22 (Fla. 1992)
- Manning v. State, 625 So. 2d 1326 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)