Miller v. State
| Decision Date | 06 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 64505,64505 |
| Citation | 460 So.2d 373 |
| Parties | Morris Lee MILLER, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Tatjana Ostapoff, Asst. Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Sharon Lee Stedman and Penny H. Brill, Asst. Attys. Gen., West Palm Beach, for respondent.
We review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, in Miller v. State, 438 So.2d 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), which directly expressly conflicts with Carroll v. State, 412 So.2d 972 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Since our acceptance of jurisdiction in the present case on the basis of conflict, the First District, in an en banc opinion, has expressly receded from its holding in Carroll. Cooper v. State, 455 So.2d 588 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984).
Miller was charged with second-degree murder in that he killed another by shooting him with a handgun. The jury was instructed as to lesser included offenses and returned a verdict of attempted second-degree murder which is a second-degree felony punishable by a term of imprisonment not to exceed fifteen years. Because it was established that Miller had used a handgun during the commission of the crime, the trial court, at sentencing, reclassified attempted second-degree murder from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony pursuant to section 775.087(1)(b), Florida Statutes (1981), thereby enhancing the penalty from a possible sentence of fifteen years to a possible sentence of thirty years. The trial court then sentenced him to twenty years with the requirement of a minimum mandatory sentence of three years.
He appealed to the Fourth District and argued that only those offenses which are expressly charged in the information, as opposed to those offenses impliedly charged as a lesser included offense, may be reclassified pursuant to section 775.087(1). The Fourth District disagreed with his contention and affirmed the trial court. It held that the phrase "charged with a felony," used in section 775.087(1), encompasses felonies which are impliedly charged as necessarily included lesser offenses and attempts and that, therefore, Miller was subject to the operation of this statute.
Section 775.087(1), Florida Statutes (1981), provides in pertinent part:
(1) Unless otherwise provided by law, whenever a person is charged with a felony, except a felony in which the use of a weapon or firearm is an essential element, and during the commission of such felony the defendant carries, displays, uses, threatens, or attempts to use any weapon or firearm, or during the commission of such felony the defendant commits an...
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Connolly v. State
...a lesser included offense of the crime alleged in the charging document can be reclassified under section 775.087(1). See Miller v. State, 460 So.2d 373, 374 (Fla.1984). The defendant was therefore put on notice that section 775.087(1) could be used to reclassify second degree murder to a l......
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Connolly v. State
...offense of the crime alleged in the charging document can be reclassified based on the defendant's use of a weapon. See Miller v. State, 460 So. 2d 373, 374 (Fla. 1984). The defendant was therefore put on notice that if he was convicted of a lesser included offense of first degree premedita......
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Gonzalez v. State, 88-2542
...a weapon in committing an aggravated battery on the victim. In reaching its conclusion, the court reasoned: First, under Miller v. State, 460 So.2d 373 (Fla.1984), appellant's second degree murder charge, for purposes of reclassification, included all lesser offenses. Thus, he was effective......
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