STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
WALTER DEVERE DENT, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1975-09-24
No. 46383
ROBERTS, BOYD and OVERTON, JJ., concur., ADKINS, C. J., dissents.
322 So. 2d 543 Florida Supreme Court (1975) Negative Treatment
Cited by 30 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

The Florida Supreme Court resolved a conflict between district court decisions regarding whether a middleman who arranges drug sales but does not personally sell the drugs can be convicted of selling cocaine. The Court held that under Florida's principal statute, one who aids, abets, or procures the commission of a crime is a principal in the first degree, and therefore respondent's conviction was proper.


Holding

Respondent was properly convicted of selling cocaine as a principal in the first degree. Under Florida's principal statute, a person is a principal in the first degree whether he actually commits the crime or merely aids, abets, or procures its commission. Respondent's active complicity in arranging the sales clearly aided and abetted the commission of the criminal offense.


Headnotes

[1] A person is a principal in the first degree if they aid, abet, counsel, hire, or otherwise procure the commission of a criminal offense.

[2] A conviction for selling drugs is proper even if the defendant did not personally effectuate the sale, but instead arranged the transaction and received compensation for…

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Key Quotes

“a person is a principal in the first degree whether he actually commits the crime or merely aids, abets, or procures its commission”

Establishes the legal standard for principal liability under Florida law, demonstrating that direct commission of the crime is not required.

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Facts & Procedural History

Respondent engaged in general conversations with an undercover agent about purchasing drugs. On two occasions, the agent purchased cocaine from third …

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Opinion of the Court
ENGLAND, Justice.

ENGLAND, Justice.

By petition for certiorari we are asked to review a decision of the First District Court of Appeal, reported at 301 So. 2d 475, which directly conflicts with Jacobs v. State, 184 So. 2d 711 (1st DCA Fla.1966). We have jurisdiction.1

The state asks us to reinstate respondent’s conviction following a jury trial on two counts of selling cocaine. The events leading to respondent’s conviction began with general conversations between respondent and an undercover agent relative to the purchase of drugs, subsequent to which the agent on two occasions in fact bought cocaine in respondent’s presence from persons met through respondent.2 For arranging the transactions, respondent received compensation from the agent. A more complete recitation of the events appears in the district court’s opinion, but it is unnecessary here.

On appeal from his convictions, the district court held that respondent was improperly convicted of “selling” because a third person, not respondent, effected the sale in each instance and respondent’s only compensation was received from the buyer for services as a middleman. The district court’s majority did not expressly address the view of the dissenting judge that respondent was properly convicted as a principal in the first degree,3 even if he did not personally, or as an agent, sell drugs in violation of the applicable statute.4 In Jacobs the district court had reached a contrary conclusion, stating that under the same “principal” statute “a person is a principal in the first degree whether he actually commits the crime or merely aids, abets, or procures its commission.”5

The evidence is not in dispute to the effect that respondent took an active part in arranging the sale of narcotics in violation of Florida law. Though he received no compensation from the seller, his active complicity clearly aided and abetted the commission of a criminal offense. In fact, the evidence is undisputed that the sales would not have occurred but for respondent’s arrangements. Under our decision in State v. Roby, 246 So. 2d 566 (Fla.1971), respondent’s conviction was proper. The decision of the First District Court of Appeal is quashed, and respondent’s conviction is affirmed. This cause is remanded to the district court for action consistent with this opinion.6

ROBERTS, BOYD and OVERTON, JJ., concur. ADKINS, C. J., dissents.

. Article V of the Florida Constitution, as revised in 1972, extends our jurisdiction to conflicts between decisions of the same district court of appeal. Conflicts of this type should be rare, however. We would expect the chief judge of each district court to assure uniformity within the district, as a part of his constitutional responsibility under Article V, § 2(c) of the Florida Constitution (1972).

. Respondent’s defense of entrapment was raised and resolved below. It is not before us.

. “Whoever commits any criminal offense against the state, whether felony or misdemeanor, or aids, abets, counsels, hires, or otherwise procures such offense to be committed, is a principal in the first degree . . . .” Section 776.011, Fla.Stat. (1973).

. Section 398.02(9), Fla.Stat. (1971). This statute has been repealed and replaced by a new drug offense statute which does not define the term “sale”. See Section 893.13, Fla.Stat. (1973).

. 184 So. 2d at 715

. We express no opinion on tlie issue of respondent’s sentence, which was raised by the district court on its own motion and discussed in the opinion below, but which was not made the subject of review here. Additionally, our disposition of this case on the basis of the “principal” statute makes it unnecessary to deal with the “procuring agent” theory, new to Florida, which respondent presents.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (16 total)

  • Gordon v. State, 528 So. 2d 910 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)
    …, as we do today, whether, if there were enough evidence to support the possession charge, could the defendant have been convicted and sentenced for both sale and possession counts of the same contraband in a single act. . See, e.g., State v. Dent, 322 So. 2d 543 (Fla.1975); Beasley v. State, 360 So. 2d 1275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978); State v. Hubbard, 328 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976). . Each and every element of the crime which the seller commits will be deemed to be committed by the broker under Chapter 777, F…
  • Shockey v. State, 338 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)
    …g in the back seat of the vehicle when he left the house. A person who is charged with the commission of a crime may be convicted upon proof that he aided and abetted in the commission of the crime. See Fla.Stat. § 776.011; State v. Dent, Fla.1975, 322 So. 2d 543; and McClamrock v. State, Fla. App.1975, 327 So. 2d 780. Before an accused may be convicted as an aider and abettor of a crime, his intent to participate in the crime must be proved. While this intent may be proved in many ways, it cannot be based…
  • Silber v. State, 398 So. 2d 918 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. State v. Dent, 322 So. 2d 543 (Fla.1975); State v. Roby, 246 So. 2d 566 (Fla.1971); Scaldeferri v. State, 294 So. 2d 407 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); Sims v. State, 184 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966); United States v. Faulkner, 538 F. 2d 724 (6th Cir. 1976); Gomien v. State, 172 So. 2d 51…

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