JAMIE KNOWLES
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 3d DCA | 2026-01-28
No. 2025-0846
Scales, C.J., Emas, J., Gooden, J., Wolfson, J.
2026 FL 953 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2026)

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Holding

The statutes in effect at the time of commission of a crime control both the offenses for which the perpetrator can be convicted and the punishments that may be imposed.


Headnotes

[1] The statutes in effect at the time of commission of a crime control both the offenses for which the perpetrator may be convicted and the punishments that may be imposed.

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Key Quotes

“It is firmly established law that the statutes in effect at the time of commission of a crime control as to the offenses for which the perpetrator can be convicted, as well as the punishments which may be imposed.”

Court citing State v. Miranda, 793 So. 2d 1042, 1044 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001) to establish the governing legal principle.

Facts & Procedural History

Jamie Knowles was convicted of a crime involving the unlawful killing of a human being and a firearm enhancement. The conviction and sentence were app…

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Opinion of the Court
Scales

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed January 28, 2026. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D25-0846 Lower Tribunal No. F14-20653 ________________

Jamie Knowles, Appellant,

vs.

State of Florida, Appellee.

An Appeal under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.141(b)(2) from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Andrea Ricker Wolfson, Judge.

Jamie Knowles, in proper person.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Linda Katz, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before SCALES, C.J., and EMAS, and GOODEN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

2

Affirmed. See State v. McBride, 848 So. 2d 287, 291 (Fla. 2003); State v. Miranda, 793 So. 2d 1042, 1044 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001) (“It is firmly established law that the statutes in effect at the time of commission of a crime control as to the offenses for which the perpetrator can be convicted, as well as the punishments which may be imposed.”); § 782.04(2), Fla. Stat. (2014) (“The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, is murder in the second degree and constitutes a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life or as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.”); § 775.087(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2014) (“Unless otherwise provided by law, whenever a person is charged with a felony . . . and during the commission of such felony the defendant carries, displays, uses, threatens to use, or attempts to use any weapon or firearm, or during the commission of such felony the defendant commits an aggravated battery, the felony for which the person is charged shall be reclassified as follows: In the case of a felony of the first degree, to a life felony.”); § 775.082(3)(a)3, Fla. Stat. (2014) (“A person who has been convicted of any other designated felony may be punished . . . for a life felony committed on or after July 1, 1995, by a term of

Footnotes
3 imprisonment for life or by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment.”).

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