M.P. v. State, No. 86968

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida
• Writing for the Court: HARDING; KOGAN
• Citation: 682 So.2d 79
• Docket Number: No. 86968
• Decision Date: 10 October 1996
• Parties: 21 Fla. L. Weekly S433 M.P., a juvenile, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.

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682 So.2d 79 21 Fla. L. Weekly S433 M.P., a juvenile, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent. No. 86968. Supreme Court of Florida. Oct. 10, 1996.

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Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Harvey J. Sepler, Assistant Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, for Petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Richard L. Polin, Assistant Attorney General, Miami, for Respondent.

HARDING, Justice.

We have for review the decision in M.P. v. State, 662 So.2d 1359 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), in which the Third District Court of Appeal certified conflict with the opinions in M.P.C. v. State, 659 So.2d 1293 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995), and A.J.H. v. State, 652 So.2d 1279 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution.

M.P. was adjudicated delinquent for carrying a concealed weapon in violation of section 790.01, Florida Statutes (1993), ¹ and possession of a firearm by a minor in violation of section 790.22(3), Florida Statutes (Supp.1994). ² Both charges related to the same weapon and arose from the same incident.

On appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal held that the dual adjudications did not violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. M.P., 662 So.2d at 1359-60. The district court concluded that the legislature specifically articulated its intent to punish possession of a firearm by a minor in addition to other firearm-related offenses based upon the statutory language in section 790.22(7), Florida Statutes (Supp.1994). ³ M.P., 662 So.2d at 1360. The district court further explained that the offenses in question also satisfy the Blockburger ⁴ test as each offense requires proof of an element

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that the other does not. M.P., 662 So.2d at 1360.

However, the district court also recognized that its holding was in direct conflict with that of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in M.P.C. and that of the First District Court of Appeal in A.J.H. Accordingly, the district court certified conflict with those decisions. M.P., 662 So.2d at 1360. The district court found no merit to the other issues M.P. raised on appeal and affirmed the adjudications of delinquency. Id.

M.P.C. and A.J.H. also involved juveniles who were adjudicated delinquent for multiple firearm violations arising from a single episode. However, in those cases the district courts concluded that the multiple adjudications of delinquency could not stand "because all of the violations of law arose out of a single episode." A.J.H., 652 So.2d at 1280; accord M.P.C., 659 So.2d at 1294. In A.J.H., the district court cited this Court's decision in State v. Stearns, 645 So.2d 417 (Fla.1994), as prohibiting conviction and sentence for two crimes involving a firearm whenever they arise from the same criminal episode. A.J.H., 652 So.2d at 1280. In M.P.C., the district court found A.J.H. to be dispositive and required that two of the adjudications of delinquency be struck. M.P.C., 659 So.2d at 1294. Thus, both courts interpreted our decision in Stearns as creating a per se prohibition against multiple convictions and sentences for firearm violations which arise from the same criminal episode.

Stearns was convicted of burglary of a structure while armed, grand theft of the property in that structure, and carrying a concealed weapon while committing a felony. Stearns, 645 So.2d at 418. In response to a certified question from the district court, we concluded that "double jeopardy bars the State from convicting and sentencing Stearns for two offenses involving a firearm that arose out of the same criminal episode." Id. We note that Stearns was limited to its specific facts and the specific offenses at issue and should not be interpreted as finding that double jeopardy bars multiple convictions and sentences for all firearm crimes that arise out of the same criminal episode. ⁵

In determining the constitutionality of multiple convictions and sentences for offenses arising from the same criminal transaction, the dispositive question is whether the legislature "intended to authorize separate punishments for the two crimes." Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 344, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 1145, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981); accord State v. Smith, 547 So.2d 613, 614 (Fla.1989). Legislative intent to authorize separate punishments can be explicitly stated in a statute, Albernaz, 450 U.S. at 340, 101 S.Ct. at 1142-43, or can be discerned through the Blockburger test of statutory construction. Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182. The Blockburger test, which is also called the "same-elements" test, inquires whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the same offense and double jeopardy bars subsequent punishment or prosecution. The Blockburger test has been codified in Florida at section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes (1995). ⁶

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In the instant case, the Florida legislature clearly stated...