STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
ROBERT WILLIS BROOKS, RESPONDENT
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Florida Supreme Court dismissed a petition for review of a certified question regarding whether a reasonable mistake as to a victim's age may be considered in mitigation for sentencing, finding the question too narrow and fact-specific after resolving the broader issue in a companion case.
Review was improvidently granted and the petition for review was dismissed because the certified question addressed a narrow, fact-specific issue that was resolved by the companion case of State v. Rife.
Brooks was convicted of committing a lewd and lascivious act, and the Fifth District certified a question regarding whether a reasonable mistake as to…
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PER CURIAM.
We initially accepted jurisdiction to review the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in State v. Brooks, 739 So. 2d 1223, 1225 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), which certified a question to be of great public importance. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. The State requested that Brooks be consolidated with State v. Rife, 789 So. 2d 288 (Fla.2001), for purposes of oral argument, and we heard both cases together. In Rife, we addressed a certified question from the Fifth District concerning whether a trial court may impose a downward departure sentence upon a defendant convicted of committing a sexual battery based upon the minor victim’s willing participation. Having answered the certified question in Rife in the affirmative, and having reviewed the certified question in Brooks, we conclude that the certified question in Brooks addresses a narrow question based on the unique facts of that case.1 Therefore, we find that review in Brooks based on the certified question was improvidently granted and we hereby dismiss the petition for review.
It is so ordered.
SHAW, HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur. WELLS, C.J., dissents.
. The certified question in Brooks was “MAY A REASONABLE MISTAKE AS TO THE AGE OF THE VICTIM BE CONSIDERED IN MITIGATION” for purposes of imposing a downward departure sentence upon a defendant convicted of committing a lewd and lascivious act. 739 So. 2d at 1225.
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Cited By
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Testa v. Town of Jupiter Island (Fla. 4th DCA 2023)
Authorities Cited
- State v. Rife, 789 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 2001)
- State v. Brooks, 739 So. 2d 1223 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)