Getz v. State, AG-117

Decision Date23 August 1982
Docket NumberNo. AG-117,AG-117
Citation428 So.2d 254
PartiesWilliam GETZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Steven L. Bolotin, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Lawrence A. Kaden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

JOANOS, Judge.

Appellant raises four points on this appeal from a judgment and sentences for one count of burglary of a structure, one count of burglary of a dwelling, one count of grand theft, and two counts of petit theft. We have carefully considered appellant's arguments with regard to the admission of certain allegedly inculpatory statements, exclusion of corroborative testimony, and admission of evidence of collateral crimes, and find no reversible error was committed with regard to those points which were adequately preserved for review.

Appellant's fourth point involves a potential sentencing error which merits further discussion. Under Count IV of the information, appellant was charged, convicted, and sentenced for grand theft of firearms belonging to a Mr. Nettles. Under Count V, appellant was charged, convicted, and sentenced to one day in county jail for petit theft of a calculator and a container of coins valued at less than $100, also from Mr. Nettles. These offenses allegedly occurred at the same time and place and under the same circumstances. Appellant argues, and the State agrees, that under a recent decision of this Court, Thomas v. State, 405 So.2d 1015 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), the sentence for petit theft of Nettles' property must be vacated since both crimes are defined in the theft statute, Section 812.014, Florida Statutes. The State questions the correctness of the Thomas decision, particularly in light of a recent decision of the Florida Supreme Court, Borges v. State, 415 So.2d 1265 (Fla.1982). The State asserts that, even though a single criminal statute is involved, Section 812.014, sentences for violations of separate subsections of the statute are not prohibited, see Section 775.021, Florida Statutes, unless double jeopardy is involved, and there is no double jeopardy problem in the instant case under the test announced in Borges, since, examining the requirements of the statute, different elements were required to be proved for each offense, i.e., theft of property valued at less than one-hundred dollars and theft of any firearm.

While there may be a slight distinction between the present case and Thomas, in that Thomas involved...

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2 cases
  • Watts v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • November 10, 1983
    ...offenses are catalogued in subsections of a single statute. See Thomas v. State, 405 So.2d 1015 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), and Getz v. State, 428 So.2d 254 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). But the convictions here, for Watts' simultaneous possession 3 of two prisonmade knives, are unambiguously founded upon ......
  • State v. Getz
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • July 14, 1983
    ...respondent. OVERTON, Justice. This is a petition to review a decision of the First District Court of Appeal reported as Getz v. State, 428 So.2d 254 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), in which the district court upheld the respondent's convictions and sentences for burglary and grand theft of a firearm, ......

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