Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...2864, 33 L.Ed.2d 765 (1972). [3] E.g., Anderson v. State, 267 So.2d 8 (Fla. 1972); In re Baker, 267 So.2d 331 (Fla. 1972); Donaldson v. Sack, 265 So.2d 499 (Fla. 1972). [4] All felonies were classified as either capital or first, second, or third degree felonies. § 775.081(1), F.S....

...of what can be imposed for a particular crime. For example, under Florida law felony offenses are classified into five groups: capital felony; life felony; felony of the first degree; felony of the second degree; and felony of the third degree. See § 775.081(1), Fla....

...5th DCA 1990), neither are first-degree felonies punishable by life imprisonment. We disagree. The legislature has created five categories of felonies: capital felony; life felony; felony of the first degree; felony of the second degree; and felony of the third degree. § 775.081(1), Fla....

...first-degree felony punishable by life but who instead chooses to pursue the less severe substantive penalty because only that penalty is subject to habitual offender enhancement. To paraphrase the court below, Burdick would have us judicially amend section 775.081(1) to add another classification of felonious crime, that of "first-degree felony punishable by life." Just as the district court declined this invitation, so must this Court....

...analyze and to analogize" the statutes then in force to support the continued existence of "capital offenses." In much the same fashion as the State contends here, the attorney general there maintained that the definition of "capital felonies" under Section 775.081(1), Florida Statutes (1971), made the three offenses of first degree murder, kidnapping, and rape "capital" for purposes of jurisdiction....

...The Attorney General makes a valiant attempt to analyze and to analogize the statutes to support the continued existence of a "capital offense" which would retain jurisdiction for trial thereof exclusively in the circuit courts of this state. He suggests that the new definition of "capital *502 felonies" under Fla. Stat. 775.081(1), F.S.A....

...We agree with and approve of the First District's analysis in Brown. Here, as in Brown, Knight cites this Court's holding in Burdick v. State, 594 So.2d 267, 268-69 (Fla.1992), in which we held that "[t]here is no separate classification for first-degree felonies punishable by life imprisonment" in section 775.081, Florida Statutes (1989)....

...mprisonment on a defendant by simply making a determination that the defendant fit the statutory definition of an habitual felony offender. Westbrook v. State, 574 So.2d 1187 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). In essence, appellant here asks us to judicially amend Section 775.081, *1038 Florida Statutes to add another classification of felonious crime, that of "first degree felony punishable by life"....

...sentence within the range specified for all noncapital felonies was left unimpaired and remained so until October 1, 1983, the effective date of guideline sentencing. Additionally, during the special session of November 1972, the legislature amended section 775.081 by designating "life felony" as an additional category to the list of felonies, and amended section 775.082 by adding subsection (4)(a), establishing as the penalty for a life felony "a term of imprisonment in the state prison for life, or for a term of years not less than thirty." Ch....

...State, 403 So.2d 943 (Fla. 1981), wherein that court announced that a violation of section 794.011(2) is no longer a capital crime. Appellant contends that inasmuch as a conviction under 794.011(2) is no longer a capital felony, it drops one category to life felony. § 775.081(1), Fla....

...WHATLEY and STRINGER, JJ., concur. NOTES [1] Gisi v. State, 848 So.2d 1278, 1280 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). [2] At that time, Gisi had already served the entirety of the two remaining 17.5-month sentences and was given time served on those two counts. [3] At that time, section 775.081(1), Florida Statutes (1991), provided for parole eligibility after serving twenty-five years on a life sentence.

...1st DCA 1992). See Betancourt v. State, 767 So.2d 557, 557 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). The Third District Court of Appeal rejected this claim, affirmed the forty-year sentences, and certified its holding as being in direct conflict with the Eady decision. ANALYSIS Section 775.081, Florida Statutes, titled "Classifications of felonies and misdemeanors," states that "[a] capital felony and a life felony must be so designated by statute." § 775.081(1), Fla....

...[1] As noted, in seeking review Betancourt relies on Eady, where the First District held: [A]ppellant correctly asserted that assessment of 150 points under the category of first degree felony punishable by life was improper. "A capital felony and a life felony must be so designated by statute." § 775.081(1), Fla....

...a mask, section 775.0845. Reclassification speaks to the degree of the crime charged, and in the metaphysical legislative application, appears to attach at the time the indictment or information is filed and not at the time a conviction is obtained. Section 775.081 "classifies" felonies....

...section *42 775.082(3)(b), Florida Statutes, by "imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment." While this special category of "felony of the first degree punishable by life" is not listed in the classification of felonies under section 775.081(1), Florida Statutes [1] , nevertheless, it exists and is involved in this case and is not subject to the 40 year cap on "life felonies" contained in section 775.082(3)(a), Florida Statutes....

...However, it does not necessarily follow that rape became a "life felony" by virtue of the Furman holding, as that term is employed for purposes of sentencing guidelines. First, there simply was no offense known as a "life felony" at the time of Huffman's 1972 offense. See § 775.081(1), Fla....

...t fail. Turning to the scoresheet challenge, appellant correctly asserted that assessment of 150 points under the category of first degree felony punishable by life was improper. "A capital felony and a life felony must be so designated by statute." § 775.081(1), Fla....

...r the punishment. No punishment is set forth elsewhere in the statute. In the case before us, the court was faced with the dilemma of having to sentence a defendant convicted of a crime for which no punishment was provided. The trial court turned to Section 775.081(2), Florida Statutes (1975), which states: "(2) Misdemeanors are classified, for the purpose of sentence and for any other purpose specifically provided by statute, into the following categories: (a) Misdemeanor of the first degree; and (b) Misdemeanor of the second degree....

...Any crime declared by statute to be a misdemeanor without specification of degree is of the second degree." The court concluded that the offense of which the defendant was guilty was a second degree misdemeanor and sentenced him to sixty days in jail. But the last sentence of Section 775.081(2) requires that the crime be declared by statute as a misdemeanor without specification of degree in order to be classified as a misdemeanor of the second degree....

...Getting to the bottom of the statutory issue this case presents requires a little background on how the legislature classifies felony crimes—including capital felonies—and what those classifications mean. In 1971, the legislature adopted section 775.081, titled "[c]lassifications of felonies and misdemeanors." § 775.081, Fla....

...Stat. -3- (1971). The statute remains in materially identical form today. In it, the legislature has expressly "classified" felonies into five distinct categories "for the purpose of sentence and for any other purpose specifically provided by statute." § 775.081(1), Fla....

...And the statute that defines first-degree murder also classifies that crime as a capital felony. § 782.04(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2016). The Florida Criminal Code is chock-full of statutes that work in precisely this way—they create an offense and simultaneously categorize it using the classification system in section 775.081(1). The most immediate consequence of the classification of a felony offense is to set the scope of any potential sentence....

...State, 600 So. 2d 1101, 1103 (Fla. 1992) ("When a definition of a word or phrase is provided in a statute, that meaning must be ascribed to the word or phrase whenever it is repeated in the statute unless a contrary intent clearly appears."). Here, section 775.081—the statute classifying felonies into different categories—defines the term "capital felony" as a felony that the legislature has classified by statute as a capital felony. The classification statute is, to be sur...

...e statute operates. It says both that a "capital felony" is one that the legislature has by statute classified as such and that this classification operates "for the purpose of sentence and for any other purpose specifically provided by statute." § 775.081(1) (emphasis added)....

...Section 837.02(2) takes one class of felonies—capital felonies—and sets them apart from all others for purposes of determining when to punish perjury as a second-degree felony instead of as a third-degree felony. The second-degree perjury statute is thus engaged in the business of classifying felonies. And section 775.081 says that when the legislature has made the classification of a felony relevant, that classification means what the legislature says it means. Nothing about the second-degree perjury statute provides any indication, let alone the clear one the law requires, that the term "capital felony" as used there means anything other than what the legislature said in section 775.081— namely, that a capital felony is one that it has by statute classified as such. The legislature has classified capital sexual battery as a capital felony. The principle that defined terms carry their defined meanin...

...- 10 - statutory term carried a specialized meaning). In the Florida Criminal Code, the term "capital felony" is both a specialized reference and a legally significant reference to a felony that the legislature has classified as such. Section 775.081(1) lists every classification the legislature might give to any felony it creates and then says that each felony has the classification the legislature gives it in a statute. One of those classifications is "[c]apital felony." Id. Whatever the ordinary meaning of the term "capital felony" might be in other contexts, section 775.081(1) quite clearly refers to a felony that the legislature has labeled a capital felony in a statute that classifies an offense. The meanings that section 775.081(1) gives to each classification it creates—including the capital felony classification—are used throughout the Florida Criminal Code in statutes that define criminal offenses. When so used, the terms of classification uniformly carry the meaning that section 775.081(1) gives them. Thus, when the legislature said in section 794.011(2)(a) that capital sexual battery is a capital felony, it was unambiguously referring to the classification "capital felony" in section 775.081(1) and not to the potential ordinary meaning concept of an offense for which the death penalty is a constitutionally acceptable punishment. And when the legislature adopted section 837.02(2) in 1997—more than a dec...

...imposition of the death penalty under section 775.082(1)(a). But that consequence does not make it reasonable to understand the term "capital felony" in the second- degree perjury statute as meaning only a felony that may constitutionally be punished by death. Nothing in either section 775.081(1) or section 775.082 says that the constitutional availability of the death penalty determines or influences the classification of a crime as a capital felony—i.e., nothing in those statutes says that a capital felony for which...

...tablished a statutory maximum of death, - 14 - however, is not the same as giving meaning to the term "capital felony" throughout the Code. The supreme court did not, for example, determine what meaning section 775.081(1) gives to the term "capital felony"; the question in Mills did not require it, but the question here does....

...d the wearing of a mask, section 775.0845. Reclassification speaks to the degree of the crime charged, and in legislative application, appears to attach at the time the indictment or information is filed and not at the time a conviction is obtained. Section 775.081 “classifies” felonies....

...The statutory maximum sentence for a third-degree felony is five years in prison. § 775.082, Fla. Stat. (1997); see, e.g., Caraballo v. State, 805 So.2d 882 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (statutory maximum for sexual battery for purposes of Apprendi analysis is that contained in section 775.081)....

...not exceeding ninety days; and where punishment by fine alone is provided the court may, in his discretion, sentence the defendant to serve not exceeding sixty days in default of the payment of the said fine." This statute has now been superseded by § 775.081 (1973), but the change of language is not such as would affect the principles of Taulty, supra ....

...to his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. GRIFFIN and SAWAYA, JJ., concur. . § 794.011(3); § 810.02(2)(a), Fla. Stat. . The prosecutor conceded double jeopardy would prevent Morris from being convicted of both sexual batteries. . Compare § 775.081(l)(b); § 775.082(3)(a)3., Fla.Stat. (a life felony is defined as a crime punishable by a term of ■imprisonment for life or by imprisonment for *432 a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment) with § 775.081(l)(c); § 775.082(3)(b), Fla....

...lowering the recommended range one cell. We find no merit in the state’s contention that the two disputed offenses should have been scored as additional primary offenses along with two counts of sexual battery. Felonies are classified pursuant to section 775.081, Florida Statutes, as follows: (1) Felonies are classified, for the purpose of sentence and for any other purpose specifically provided by statute, into the following categories: (a) Capital felony; (b) Life felony; (c) Felony of the...

...State, 351 So.2d 957 (Fla.1977) (Section 775.087(2), Florida Statutes (1985) requires personal possession; possession by accomplice insufficient for imposition of three-year mandatory sentence); Menendez v. State, 521 So.2d 210, 212 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (enhancement under § 775.081(1), Fla.Stat.(1985) permissible where evidence shows defendant had weapon “readily available,” though not in actual “physical possession”); Smith v....

statute, not by the term of imprisonment. Section 775.081(1), Fla.Stat. (1979). Section 775.082(3)(b)

...The jury convicted defendant on the charges heretofore set forth. The court reclassified the second degree murder charge to a life felony and the attempted second degree murder charge to a first degree felony because of the use of a firearm pursuant to section 775.081, Florida Statutes (1987)....

...Although a first-degree felony punishable by life is punishable by a potentially longer sentence then a standard first-degree felony, for the purpose of sentencing it does not constitute a separate classification of offenses, wholly dis *721 tinct from standard first-degree felonies. See § 775.081(1), Fla....

sentence more lenient than that required by section 775.081, the judge must still adhere to the sentencing

...ul offender... ." The court reasoned that this statute was applicable because armed robbery is punishable by life imprisonment. However, armed robbery is not a "life felony," but instead, it is a "felony of the first degree." See § 812.13(2)(a) and § 775.081(1), Fla....

...Appellant raises a single issue on appeal, arguing that because criminal contempt is not specifically designated as a first degree misdemeanor, it is a misdemeanor of the second degree and, as a result, his one-year probation term exceeds the statutory maximum. See § 775.081(2), Fla....

...Therefore, we must conclude that criminal contempt is a crime under Florida law, with the possible maximum punishment exceeding six months’ imprisonment. Id. at 676 (footnotes omitted). We reject for several reasons appellant’s contention that, pursuant to section 775.081(2), criminal contempt is a second degree misdemeanor. Section 775.081(2) provides that “[a]ny crime declared by statute to be a misdemeanor without specification of degree is of the second degree.” Even though contempt is punishable in the same manner as a misdemeanor, 1 we do not believe it can rea...

...See Moorman, 490 So.2d at 187 . Indeed, one court has stated that “[c]ontempt is neither a felony nor a misdemeanor.” In re A.L., 705 So.2d 1048, 1049 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (citing Ducksworth v. Boyer, 125 So.2d 844 (Fla.1960)). Further, applying section 775.081(2) (providing that any misdemeanor not declared by statute to be of the first degree is of the second degree) to section 775.02 (providing that common law offenses may be punishable by imprisonment not to exceed twelve months) would r...

...er meaningless since, in all instances, common law crimes would be classified as second degree misdemeanors by default. The maximum term of imprisonment for a second degree misdemeanor is limited to sixty days. See § 775.082(4)(b), Fla. Stat. Thus, section 775.081(2) would prohibit a term of imprisonment in excess of sixty days for any common law offense and the twelve-month maximum sentence contemplated under section 775.02 would be illusory....

...See T.R. v. State, 677 So.2d 270, 271 (Fla.1996) (stating “courts must give effect to all statutory provisions and construe related statutory provisions in harmony with one another”). Thus, this court must assume the legislature intended sections 775.081(2) and 775.02 to operate coexten-sively and have the fullest possible effect; we, therefore, adopt a construction that harmonizes both provisions....

...o be sentenced under the guidelines for either the armed robbery, or any of the non-life felonies accompanying the robbery charge. We find two errors in the trial court’s reasoning. First, armed robbery is a first degree felony, not a life felony. Section 775.081, Florida Statutes (1983), in classifying felonies and misdemeanors, specifically provides that “a life felony must be so designated by statute.” Section 812.-13(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1983), does not designate a robbery, committ...

...ollows. In Williams, the Court considered the following certified question: “Does Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 186 L.Ed. 2d 314 (2013), require the jury and not the trial court to make the factual finding under section 775.081(1)(b), Florida Statutes (2016), as to whether a juvenile offender actually killed, intended to kill, or attempted to kill the victim?” Williams, 242 So....

...The defendant appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800. We affirm. The defendant was sentenced as a habitual violent offender. Contrary to the defendant’s assertion, under section 775.081(b), Florida Statutes (1995), only one qualifying prior conviction was needed in order to sentence him as a habitual violent offender....