BENJAMIN D. TURNER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that a defendant charged as an adult for an offense committed as a juvenile must have proceedings initially filed in juvenile court, even if the juvenile and criminal courts are divisions of the same circuit court.
[1] The age of a defendant at the time an offense was committed, rather than when charges are filed, controls whether the charges should initially be filed in juvenile or cri…
[2] To charge a defendant who was under sixteen years of age when the offense was committed, proceedings must commence under the juvenile statutes, and a judge must then deci…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBenjamin Turner was convicted of sexual battery committed at age fourteen. He appealed, arguing the trial court erred by not initiating proceedings in…
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WHATLEY, Acting Chief Judge.
Benjamin Turner was charged and convicted as an adult with committing a sexual battery in 1992 when he was fourteen years of age. In this appeal of that conviction, he contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the State erroneously charged him as an adult despite the fact that he was a juvenile at the time the offense was committed. We reverse.
Turner is correct that his case should have been initially filed in the juvenile division.1 In the nearly identical case of State v. Griffith, 675 So. 2d 911, 913 (Fla.1996), the supreme court concluded that “the age of the defendant when the offense was committed rather than when the charges are filed controls whether the charges should be filed in juvenile court or criminal court....” The court agreed with the Fourth District’s holding “that in order to charge an adult with crimes committed while under the age of sixteen, the state must commence proceedings under chapter 39, part II, Florida Statutes (1983), and in that proceeding, the judge must decide whether the defendant may be waived over to adult court.” 675 So. 2d at 912 (citing Griffith v. State, 654 So. 2d 936, 941 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)). The court noted, however, that the fact the case should have been filed in juvenile court did Hot involve a failure of subject matter jurisdiction “because the juvenile court and the criminal court are divisions of the circuit court.” 675 So. 2d at 913. That fact notwithstanding, Turner preserved this issue for our review by objecting in the trial court to being treated as an adult.
Accordingly, we reverse Turner’s conviction and remand with directions that if any proceedings against Turner for the 1992 sexual battery are initiated, they must be commenced under chapter 39.
Reversed and remanded.
STRINGER and DAVIS, JJ., Concur. . The State correctly points out that the state attorney may now file an information against a child who was fourteen or fifteen years of age at the time certain enumerated offenses, including sexual battery, were committed. See § 985.227, Fla. Stat. (1999). We conclude this is a substantive change in the law that became effective January 1, 1995. See § 39.052(3)(a)5.a., Fla. Stat. (Supp.1996).
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Citator
Cited By
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Brown v. State, 263 So. 3d 48 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)…be treated as a juvenile is not waived provided it is brought to the trial court’s attention, even belatedly. See Miller v. State, 702 So. 2d 617, 618 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); T.W. v. Jenne, 826 So. 2d 536, 538 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002); Turner v. State, 769 So. 2d 1108, 1109 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). In Miller, the defendant appealed his conviction and sentence on two counts of sexual battery on a minor and five counts of lewd assault. 702 So. 2d at 618. The information filed against him was improperly direct- f…
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Turner v. State, 788 So. 2d 320 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)…t. Thereafter, this court reversed his conviction, holding that proceedings against him could not be initiated by information. We left open the possibility that the State could file juvenile proceedings against him under chapter 39. Turner v. State, 769 So. 2d 1108 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). On remand, the State initiated a juvenile proceeding against Mr. Turner. Because the State was concerned about its ability to file a juvenile proceeding against an adult over the age of nineteen,1 the State also convened a grand…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Griffith, 675 So. 2d 911 (Fla. 1996)
- Griffith v. State, 654 So. 2d 936 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)