Chikitus v. Shands, 53834
| Decision Date | 26 July 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 53834,53834 |
| Parties | Michael Wade CHIKITUS, Petitioner, v. Thomas W. SHANDS, etc., Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Wilbur C. Smith, III of Smith & Carta, Fort Myers, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for respondent.
We have for review by petition for writ of certiorari the March 14, 1978, order of the District Court of Appeal, Second District, Case No. 78-403, denying the petition of Michael Wade Chikitus for writ of prohibition. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution. The question presented is whether a prior conviction of reckless driving, willful and wanton, proscribed by section 316.029, Florida Statutes (1975), bars a subsequent prosecution for vehicular homicide proscribed by section 782.071, Florida Statutes (1975). We hold that reckless driving is a lesser included offense of vehicular homicide and that a prior conviction of that offense would bar a subsequent prosecution for vehicular homicide arising from the same facts.
Chikitus, while driving an automobile, was involved in an accident which resulted in the death of two people. He was charged with, pled nolo contendere to, and was convicted of willful and wanton reckless driving contrary to section 316.029. Subsequently, he was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in violation of section 782.071. These charges arose out of the same accident as the willful and wanton reckless driving charge. Chikitus filed a motion to dismiss the information, arguing, among other things, that double jeopardy prevented him from being tried for vehicular homicide because reckless driving is a lesser included offense of vehicular homicide and because he previously had been convicted of a reckless driving charge stemming from the same facts. The motion to dismiss was denied. Chikitus then filed a petition for writ of prohibition in the Second District. The district court, citing its previous decision in State v. Stiefel, 256 So.2d 581 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972), denied the writ on the ground that the reckless driving charge was a continuing offense, and thus double jeopardy was not applicable to bar the vehicular homicide prosecution.
Chikitus argues that, since by its statutory definition " 'vehicular homicide' is the killing of a human being by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another," it is legally impossible to prove a vehicular homicide without also proving the reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and thus reckless driving is clearly a lesser included offense of vehicular homicide. According to Chikitus, his previous conviction of reckless driving bars a subsequent prosecution for vehicular homicide based on the same facts.
The respondent argues that Chikitus waived his double jeopardy claim when he pled nolo contendere to the reckless driving charge because there is now no way to determine whether the vehicular...
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U.S. v. Ursery
...1123, 1126 (S.D.N.Y.1989) (stating that nolo contendere plea furnishes sufficient basis for double jeopardy claim); Chikitus v. Shands, 373 So.2d 904, 905 (Fla.1979) (holding that plaintiff's double jeopardy claim based on his prior nolo contendere plea was not barred because relevant consi......
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State v. Barritt
...The First District reversed, finding respondent entitled to the requested instruction under this Court's decisions in Chikitus v. Shands, 373 So.2d 904 (Fla.1979), and State v. Wimberly, 498 So.2d 929 (Fla.1986). The First District perceived some lack of clarity, however, between these deci......
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Hicks v. State, 79-1025
...acquittal on the lesser offense would bar, on double jeopardy grounds, a subsequent prosecution for the greater offense. Chikitus v. Shands, 373 So.2d 904 (Fla.1979); Sanford v. State, 75 Fla. 393, 78 So. 340 (1918). It is also clear that a conviction or acquittal on the greater offense wou......
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People v. Sienkiewicz
...before us, we find support for our conclusion that reckless driving is a lesser-included offense of reckless homicide in Chikitus v. Shands, 373 So.2d 904 (Fla.1979). The facts of Chikitus are remarkably similar to those in this case. In Chikitus, the defendant was driving an automobile and......
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Tragedy behind the wheel: understanding manslaughter by culpable negligence, vehicular homicide, and DUI manslaughter.
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