STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
R.L.S., A MINOR, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court reversed trial court's suspension of mandatory five-day juvenile detention for improper exhibition of a firearm, holding that section 790.22(9)(a) mandates the detention period without judicial discretion to suspend it.
A trial court has no authority to suspend the mandatory five-day detention period required by section 790.22(9)(a) for a minor's first firearms possession offense.
[1] The word 'shall' in section 790.22(9)(a) mandates a five-day detention period for a minor's first firearms possession offense, and trial courts lack discretion to suspend…
Previewing 1 of 1 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“the court shall order ... that the minor serve a mandatory period of detention of five days in a secure detention facility”
Section 790.22(9)(a) statutory language establishing mandatory detention requirement
R.L.S., a minor, was found guilty of improper exhibition of a firearm and sentenced to a suspended five-day term in a juvenile detention center.…
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CASANUEVA, Judge.
After R.L.S. was found guilty of improper exhibition of a firearm, the trial court sentenced him to, among other things, a suspended five day term in a juvenile detention center. The State appeals the suspension of the five day detention period, contending that section 790.22(9)(a), Florida Statutes (1997) mandates the detention period. We agree with the State’s assertion and hold that the trial court had no authority to suspend this period of detention.
Section 790.22(9)(a) provides that when a minor commits a firearms possession offense but is not committed to a residential commitment program of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, “the court shall order ... that the minor serve a mandatory period of detention of five days in a secure detention facility” for a first offense. The use of the word “shall” indicates that service of the five day detention is mandatory. The legislature clearly intended that the courts deal severely with those juveniles who illegally use firearms. For first offenders, the legislature sought to focus their attention on the seriousness of their actions by depriving them of their liberty. The five day detention period is mandatory and not subject to a trial judge’s discretion to suspend its imposition. See T.M. v. State, 689 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997).
We reverse the suspension of the five day detention period and remand.
ALTENBERND, A.C.J., and FULMER, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. C.R., 959 So. 2d 1249 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)…we sympathize with the trial court’s attempt to treat all the codefen-dants fairly and consistently, we agree with the State that the trial court had no discretion to refuse to impose the mandatory fifteen-day detention on C.R. See State v. R.L.S., 712 So. 2d 1220 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); State v. R.C.S., 837 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). We likewise have no choice but to follow the statute. Accordingly, we reverse the disposition order and remand with directions that the trial court impose the term of detention…
Authorities Cited
- T.M. v. State, 689 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)