ALEXIS DEJESUS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2003-12-10
No. 4D02-2699
GUNTHER and WARNER, JJ„ concur.
862 So. 2d 847 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 16 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

DeJesus appealed the trial court's denial of his motion to declare Florida's sexual offender registration statute unconstitutional and to remove himself from the sexual offender registry. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed, rejecting his constitutional challenges, his argument that youthful offender sentencing exempts him from sexual offender requirements, and his narrow construction of registration requirements.


Holding

The court held that Florida's sexual offender statute is constitutional and does not violate due process or privacy rights; that a youthful offender sentence does not exempt a defendant from sexual offender requirements because youthful offender sentencing is an adult sentence, not a juvenile sentence; and that sexual offender registration is required during probation in the community, not merely upon release from supervision.


Headnotes

[1] Florida's sexual offender statute is constitutional and does not violate procedural due process or privacy rights.

[2] A defendant who enters a negotiated plea including youthful offender and sex offender probation cannot later challenge the application of the sex offender statute without…

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Key Quotes

“For the reasons expressed in these cases, we now join the second and fifth districts in finding Florida's sexual offender statute constitutional.”

The court's holding on the constitutionality of the sexual offender registration statute against due process and privacy challenges.

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Facts & Procedural History

DeJesus entered into a negotiated plea that included both youthful offender sentencing and sex offender probation conditions. He was required to regis…

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Opinion of the Court
MAY, J.

MAY, J.

The defendant appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to declare section 943.0435, Florida Statutes (2002), the sexual offender statute, unconstitutional. He argues that the statute violates his procedural due process and privacy rights. He further argues that the sexual offender statute cannot be applied to him because he was sentenced as a youthful offender. Lastly, he argues that the court erred in denying his request to remove him from the sexual offender designation and registration because registration is required only after “release” from supervision. We disagree with the defendant in all respects and affirm.

The constitutional issues raised by the defendant have been addressed recent ly by a number of courts. The United States Supreme Court upheld a similar, but not identical, sexual offender statute in Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1, 123 S.Ct. 1160, 155 L.Ed.2d 98 (2003). Both the Fifth and Second District Courts of Appeal have upheld Florida’s sexual offender statute. Johnson v. State, 795 So. 2d 82 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Givens v. State, 851 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). More recently, this court upheld Florida’s more restrictive sexual predator statute against similar attack in Reyes v. State, 854 So. 2d 816 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). For the reasons expressed in these cases, we now join the second and fifth districts in finding Florida’s sexual offender statute constitutional.

Nevertheless, the defendant argues that the sexual offender statute cannot be applied to him because he was sentenced as a juvenile under the youthful offender statute. His argument fails for two reasons. First, the defendant entered into a negotiated plea, which included both youthful offender and sex offender probation. The defendant did not timely file a motion to withdraw his plea and he has therefore failed to preserve this issue for appeal. See Fla. R.App. P. 9.140(b)(2)(A).

Second, the defendant’s reliance on C.C.M. v. State, 782 So. 2d 537 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001), to suggest that a youthful offender sentence prohibits the imposition of conditions set forth in the sexual offender statute, is misplaced. C.C.M. held that the sexual offender statute was inapplicable to juvenile proceedings. However, the youthful offender sentence is an adult— not a juvenile—sentence. See State v. Richardson, 766 So. 2d 1111, 1113 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), rev. denied, 786 So. 2d 1189 (Fla.2001); Crain v. State, 653 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), rev. denied, 658 So. 2d 990 (Fla.1995).

The defendant’s third issue involves his strained construction of the registration requirements of the statute. He argues that because section 944.607(9), Florida Statutes (2002), provides for the offender to register according to section 943.0435(3), and that section does not require registration until 48 hours after being released from supervision, he should not have to register until he is released from probation. Simply put, his argument lacks merit.

There is no room for doubt that the reference to “release” in section 943.0435(3) is for offenders serving prison time, not for those on probation. Section 944.607(9) provides for the registration of offenders not serving prison time and clearly requires them to register in the same “manner” as provided in section 943.0435(3). While the “manner” of registration is the same, it defies reason to suggest that a person on sexual offender probation is not required to register while in the community until after he is released from probation. Such an interpretation ignores the plain language of the applicable statutes, and the clear intent of the legislature. We will not ignore the obvious.

For the foregoing reasons, the defendant’s conviction and sentence are affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

GUNTHER and WARNER, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Vandairy Cleckley v. State, 869 So. 2d 1286 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. Dejesus v. State, 862 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). WARNER, POLEN and MAY, JJ., concur.…
  • Newell v. State, 875 So. 2d 747 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)
    …substantive due process requirements.1 Procedural due process challenges to section 943.0435 have previously been rejected by this court and other district courts of appeal. See Givens v. State, 851 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Dejesus v. State, 862 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003); Johnson v. State, 795 So. 2d 82 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err by denying Newell’s motion to dismiss as to procedural due process. Concerning substantive due process, Newell argue…
  • State v. Miller, 888 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)
    …conviction of any of the enumerated offenses. Therefore, if a person treated as a youthful offender is convicted of any of the enumerated sex offenses, the conditions of probation described in section 948.03(5) must be imposed. Cf. DeJesus v. State, 862 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)(sex offender statute was applicable to defendant sentenced as youthful offender where defendant entered into negotiated plea that included probation with sex offender conditions). Mr. Miller points us to certain other cases hold…

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