Coffie v. State
| Decision Date | 15 June 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-03023,87-03023 |
| Citation | 562 So.2d 423 |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly D1604 Tony Lamar COFFIE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Robert D. Rosen, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Dell H. Edwards, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
The appellant, Tony Lamar Coffie, challenges the judgments and sentences imposed upon him after he was adjudicated guilty of felony petit theft and resisting a merchant. We affirm the appellant's conviction for petit theft, but reverse and remand in all other respects.
The appellant was charged with felony petit theft in violation of section 812.014, Florida Statutes (1985), and with resisting a merchant in violation of section 812.015(6), Florida Statutes (1985). A jury found the appellant guilty of petit theft by stealing a package of "fruit of the loom" underwear and guilty of resisting a merchant. The state then presented evidence of two prior grand theft convictions and asked the court to reclassify the petit theft to felony petit theft pursuant to section 812.014(2)(c). The court granted the state's request and reclassified the appellant's petit theft conviction to felony petit theft. The appellant was then adjudicated guilty of both offenses and sentenced to serve five years imprisonment on the felony petit theft charge and one year on the resisting a merchant charge. The sentences were ordered to be served concurrently. The court also assessed attorney's fees, court costs, and fines. This timely appeal followed.
The appellant raises three issues on appeal. We find merit in all of them.
First, the appellant contends that the trial court erred by reclassifying his petit theft conviction to a felony. At the time the appellant was sentenced, the court was bound by and followed this court's decision in Hall v. State, 469 So.2d 224 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). In Hall, we held that two prior grand theft convictions constituted a proper predicate for the reclassification of the charge. However, after the appellant was sentenced the supreme court disapproved our Hall decision. In State v. Jackson, 526 So.2d 58 (Fla.1988), the supreme court held that section 812.014(2)(c) permits reclassification based upon two prior petit theft convictions, but not upon two prior grand theft convictions. We, therefore, reverse the appellant's conviction of felony petit theft, and remand for the entry of judgment and sentence on the petit theft charge.
Next, the appellant contends that he was improperly convicted of the offense of resisting a merchant because he could not be tried on that charge until there was a conviction of the underlying theft. Although there was sufficient evidence to find that the appellant was guilty of the crime of resisting a merchant, the supreme court's...
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Grimes v. State, 98-3087.
...convictions to petit theft. See Jackson v. State, 515 So.2d 394 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987) approved, 526 So.2d 58 (Fla. 1988); Coffie v. State, 562 So.2d 423 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). The statute was revised in 1992 to A person who commits petit theft and who has previously been convicted two or more ti......