Lovett v. Cochran, 31282
| Decision Date | 07 February 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 31282,31282 |
| Citation | 137 So.2d 572 |
| Parties | Thomas LOVETT, Petitioner, v. H. G. COCHRAN, Jr., Director, Division of Corrections, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and Reeves Bowen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
A writ of habeas corpus was issued on the petition of Thomas Lovett and the case is now before us for further consideration upon the petition and the return of the respondent endorsed by the Attorney General.
It appears that the petitioner was sentenced 28 March 1960 in the Circuit Court of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Seminole County, to life imprisonment for 'Fourth Conviction Of Felony.' The sentence was based on an information charging that on that day the petitioner had been convicted 'of the following felonies in this State and other States, * * *: Grand Larceny in the First Degree on September 26, 1944, in Rochester, New York; Breaking and Entering on May 28, 1956, in Bradenton, Florida; Breaking and Entering on May 28, 1956, in Bradenton, Florida; Breaking and Entering on March 28, 1960, in Sanford, Florida.'
It is important to note that the second and third convictions were alleged to have occurred on the same day in the same city.
The relevant section of the statutes dealing with the punishment for a fourth conviction of felony is numbered 775.10, Florida Statutes 1959, F.S.A. That law provides that a person who has three times been convicted of felonies, or attempts to commit them, in this state or of acts in other states which would constitute felonies if committed here, and then commits a felony in Florida, may, upon the fourth conviction in this State, be imprisoned for life.
Upon cursory examination of the information, it appears that the petitioner was charged with the commission of four felonies, the last of which was perpetrated in Florida, nonetheless the information was ineffective as a foundation for a life sentence because, as was observed at the outset, the second and third convictions were averred to have happened the same day.
We treated of this subject in Joyner v. State, 158 Fla. 806, 30 So.2d 304, and held that to warrant conviction as a fourth offender it was imperative that the allegation of the information show and the proof demonstrate that the second crime was committed after the first conviction, and the third crime after the second conviction.
We discussed the question further in Perry v. Mayo, Fla., 72 So.2d 382, and, as we said, 'to end the...
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Barnes v. State
... ... is, based on convictions for offenses committed after a prior conviction, as required by Lovett v. Cochran, 137 So.2d 572 (Fla.1962). "We issued a show cause order to appellee for clarification ... ...
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Hayes v. State
...subsequent to his conviction on the first [felony] offense." Shead v. State, 367 So.2d 264, 266 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979); see Lovett v. Cochran, 137 So.2d 572 (Fla.1962); Perry v. Mayo, 72 So.2d 382 (Fla.1954); Mayo v. State ex rel. Murray, 66 So.2d 256 (Fla.1953); Reed v. Mayo, 61 So.2d 757 (Fla......
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Shead v. State, s. 77-2443
...on the same day are, therefore, treated as one offense for purposes of such a provision in a habitual criminal statute. Lovett v. Cochran, 137 So.2d 572 (Fla.1962); Perry v. Mayo, 72 So.2d 382 (Fla.1954); Mayo v. State ex rel. Murray, 66 So.2d 256 (Fla.1953); Reed v. Mayo, 61 So.2d 757 (Fla......
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Taylor v. State, 89-1523
...as an habitual offender must be subsequent to the defendant's preceding conviction. This rule continues to be followed. Lovett v. Cochran, 137 So.2d 572 (Fla.1962); Harvey v. Mayo, 72 So.2d 385 (Fla.1954), cert. denied, 349 U.S. 965, 75 S.Ct. 898, 99 L.Ed. 1287 (1955); Perry v. Mayo, 72 So.......