Watkins v. Morris
| Decision Date | 27 October 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 34655,34655 |
| Parties | Thomas E. WATKINS, Petitioner, v. John MORRIS, Warden, Hillsborough County Prison Camp, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Thomas E. Watkins, in pro. per.
Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., and John S. Burton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
By petition for a writ of habeas corpus Watkins seeks release from the Hillsborough County Prison.
By an affidavit complaint filed in the Hillsborough County Traffic Court, Watkins was charged in three counts with the offenses of:
(1) Driving while intoxicated, condemned by Section 317.201, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
(2) Reckless driving, condemned by Section 317.211, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
(3) Leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury, condemned by Section 317.071, Florida Statues, F.S.A.
The Traffic Court was created by Chapter 27104, Laws of Florida, 1951, Chapter 61-1034, Laws of Florida, 1961. Its jurisdiction is limited to traffic violations which constitute misdemeanors. The offense proscribed by Section 317.071, supra, is a felony. The other two offenses are misdemeanors.
Under Count (1) above the defendant was sentenced to a fine of $500.00 or 6 months in jail. Sentence was deferred on Count (2). On Count (3) he was sentenced to a fine of $500.00 or 6 months in jail. He evidently did not pay the fines because he is in jail and wants out.
Ordinarily we would deny the petition because the defendant Watkins failed to appeal. Habeas corpus will not be employed as a substitute for appeal. Here, however, after the appeal period had expired, Section 11, Chapter 27104, supra, the defendant attacks his conviction and incarceration on jurisdictional grounds.
If petitioner's present confinement depended upon the validity of the felony conviction, he would be entitled to release because that conviction clearly could not stand. The Traffic Court simply had no jurisdiction to try the man for the felony punished by Section 317.071(2), Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
However, it did have jurisdiction to try him for the misdemeanors. The judge did not specifically prescribe that the sentences would run consecutively. Hence, we hold that they run concurrently. There is no statute such as Section 921.16, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., to govern sentences for offenses charged in an affidavit-complaint, as distinguished from an information or indictment. Under Section 921.16, supra, when two or more offenses are charged in the same information or indictment, terms of imprisonment run concurrently unless expressly directed to run consecutively.
By analogy we treat the complaint here the same as if it were an information. By statutory analogy we apply the rule of Section 921.16, supra, to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Bramlett v. Peterson
...right to court-appointed counsel. State ex rel. Taylor v. Warden of Orange County Prison Farm, 193 So.2d 606 (Fla.1967); Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla.1965); Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla. 1964); Brinson v. Purdy, 201 So.2d 260 (3d D.C.A.Fla. 1967). This issue was before the Flo......
-
Hendrix v. City of Seattle
...the trial court did not commit reversible error in refusing to appoint counsel for a man charged with nonsupport. (4) Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla.1965). (5) Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla.1964). The last two cases were decided by the court which had denied the rights of the def......
-
Cableton v. State
...felony cases. This, they said, constituted a declaration of the state's public policy. Fish v. State, 159 So.2d 866 (Fla); Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla.). The Ohio court has also found a declaration of public policy in its statutes. City of Toledo v. Frazier, supra. It is suggested......
-
Stevenson, Application of
...777 (1967); State v. Brown, 250 La. 1023, 201 So.2d 277 (1967); Winters v. Beck, 239 Ark. 1151, 397 S.W.2d 364 (1965); Watkins v. Morris, 179 So.2d 348 (Fla. 1965). Although we could rest our decision solely on the Constitution of the United States, we prefer to rely also on Article I, Sect......