RAYMOND W. KARZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1973-06-08
No. 71-707
HOBSON and McNULTY, JJ„ concur.
279 So. 2d 383 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1973) Caution
Cited by 6 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

Raymond Karz was convicted of six drug violations and sentenced as a repeat offender for convictions entered simultaneously. On rehearing, the Florida appellate court held that enhanced sentences for second or subsequent offenses under Florida's drug statute require that offenses be committed after a prior conviction, not simultaneously, and thus reversed the enhanced sentences while affirming the convictions.


Holding

Enhanced sentences for second or subsequent convictions under Florida's drug statute are not applicable when offenses are committed and convicted simultaneously. The statute contemplates a subsequent offense committed after a prior conviction. Each offense must be regarded as a first offense if all convictions occur on the same date.


Headnotes

[1] A "second conviction" for the purpose of enhanced sentencing under a subsequent offender statute requires that the offense be committed after a prior conviction.

[2] Statutory provisions for enhanced punishment for a second or subsequent offense generally contemplate offenses committed after a prior conviction, not multiple offenses f…

Previewing 2 of 4 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

Key Quotes

“The statute contemplates a subsequent offense committed after a prior conviction and not a situation in which all convictions are simultaneously entered.”

Establishes that § 404.15(2) requires temporal separation between offenses for enhanced sentencing to apply

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Karz was charged with six separate violations of Florida's Uniform Narcotic Drug Law and Drug Abuse Law. He was convicted of all charges on the same d…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Opinion of the Court
MANN, Chief Judge.

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING

MANN, Chief Judge.

Informations were filed charging Karz with six separate violations of the Uniform Narcotic Drug Law and the Florida Drug Abuse Law. Karz was convicted of all the charges on the same date. On each of the two convictions under the Narcotic Drug Law he was sentenced to six months to three years. For one conviction under the Drug Abuse Law he received a one year sentence and for the three remaining convictions under the same law he received enhanced sentences of six months to three years each as a second offender. The sentences run concurrently.

*384Karz’ motion to vacate and set aside was denied and this court affirmed per curiam. On rehearing the issue was raised whether the increased punishment aspect of Florida Statute § 404.15(2), F.S. A., for a second or subsequent conviction applies when a person is simultaneously convicted of two or more separate offenses committed on separate days. When Karz was convicted Florida Statute § 404.15, F. S.A., provided that a first conviction was punishable by two years imprisonment and a second conviction was punishable by not less than two nor more than five years. The statute contemplates a subsequent offense committed after a prior conviction and not a situation in which all convictions are simultaneously entered.

This rule has generally been applied to subsequent offender statutes such as Florida Statutes §§ 775.09 and 775.10, F.S.A., which, although now repealed, provided that any person who “after having been convicted of a felony” commits another felony is punishable as a second or subsequent offender. Cases dealing with those statutes required that in order to punish a person as a subsequent offender it was necessary that the offenses after the primary one were in each case committed subsequent to conviction for the preceding offense. Perry v. Mayo, Fla.1954, 72 So.2d 382.

The statutory language of Section 404.-15(2) is not as specific as the statutes mentioned above. Here we are concerned with a statute that merely states that a “second conviction” is punishable by a more severe sentence. Winstead v. State, Fla.1956, 91 So.2d 809, dealt with a similarly worded statute. In that case the defendant was convicted on three counts of drug violations. Under the first count he was given a minimum sentence for a first conviction. However, under the second and third counts he was sentenced for a “second offense.” The Florida Supreme Court held that each offense must be regarded as a “first offense” under the statute. Citing Holst v. Owens, 5 Cir. 1928, 24 F.2d 100, 101, the court stated that “[a] second offense, as used in the criminal statutes, is one that has been committed after conviction for a first offense.”

The reason for enhancing a sentence for a subsequent offense is to serve as a warning to first offenders and to afford them an opportunity to reform. The reformatory object of the statute, namely to deter future crime, would be frustrated if the offender were given no opportunity to reform. See cases collected in the annotation at 24 A.L.R.2d 1247 and in State v. Johnson, 1969, 109 N.J.Super. 69, 262 A.2d 238.

For the foregoing reasons we erred in affirming the sentences in case numbers 21,800, 21,801 and 21,802, but properly affirmed the conviction. Rehearing is granted. We recede from our prior affirmance of the sentences exceeding the statutory maximum for a first offense.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded.

HOBSON and McNULTY, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Snowden v. State, 449 So. 2d 332 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)
    …lford v. Mayo, 93 So. 2d 110 (Fla.1957). A similar result was reached under section 404.15, Florida Statutes (1971) (since repealed) which provided for enhanced penalties for second or subsequent convictions of the Drug Abuse Law. In Karz v. State, 279 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973) the court said: This rule has generally been applied to subsequent offender statutes such as Florida Statutes §§ 775.09 and 775.10, F.S.A., which, although now repealed, provided that any person who “after having been convicted o…
  • Forrest J. Killian, III v. State, 387 So. 2d 385 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980)
    …conviction. E. g., Shead v. State, 367 So. 2d 264 (Fla.3d DCA 1979). The rationale for enhancing a sentence for subsequent offenders is said to be to give a warning, to first offenders and thereby afford them an opportunity to reform. Karz v. State, 279 So. 2d 383 (Fla.2d DCA 1973). On the other hand, the state suggests the applicability of Lucas v. State, 376 So. 2d 1149 (Fla.1979), in which the court was considering the eligibility of certain crimes to be considered as aggravating factors under Section 921…
  • Abram v. State, 405 So. 2d 992 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)
    …onviction. See, e. g., Shead v. State, 367 So. 2d 264 (Fla.3d DCa 1979). The rationale for such a construction is that the statute intends to encourage first offenders to reform by warning of severer penalties for subsequent offenses. Karz v. State, 279 So. 2d 383 (Fla.2d DCA 1973). While Lucas v. State, 376 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 1979), reaches a contrary result regarding “prior convictions” as aggravating circumstances within the purview of Florida’s death penalty statute, I am of the opinion that Chapter 958, t…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw