Moosbrugger v. State

Decision Date11 January 1985
Docket NumberNo. 84-740,84-740
Citation10 Fla. L. Weekly 169,461 So.2d 1033
Parties10 Fla. L. Weekly 169 Danny Paul MOOSBRUGGER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Jesse J. Bennett, Jr., Bennett & Bennett, P.A., Winter Haven, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Gary O. Welch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.

The state filed an information charging appellant:

[T]hen and there being a public servant, to-wit, a deputy sheriff with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for himself knowingly did refrain from performing a duty imposed upon the said DANNY PAUL MOOSBRUGGER by law, to-wit, in that he did fail to turn in a stolen two-way radio into the Polk County Sheriffs Department evidence room and fill out a report regarding the recovery of the radio and failed in any way to report the recovery of said stolen two-way radio to any law enforcement agency once he was informed the radio was stolen, in violation of Section 839.25, Florida Statutes.

The appellant was found guilty and placed on probation.

Appellant now contends that section 839.25(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1983), the statute under which he was convicted, is unconstitutional. This statute reads as follows:

(1) "Official misconduct" means the commission of one of the following acts by a public servant, with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for himself or another or to cause unlawful harm to another:

(a) Knowingly refraining, or causing another to refrain, from performing a duty imposed upon him by law; or ....

While this point was not argued in the trial court, the facial validity of a statute may be raised for the first time on appeal. Trushin v. State, 425 So.2d 1126 (Fla.1983).

In State v. Jenkins, 454 So.2d 79 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), our sister court recently held this very statute unconstitutional. In that case, the state sought to prosecute a property appraiser for failing to assess back taxes on certain property. The court reasoned that the language of subsection (a) was at least as vague and open to arbitrary and capricious application as subsection (c) of the 1977 statute which was struck down by the supreme court in State v. DeLeo, 356 So.2d 306 (Fla.1978). We agree. There is simply no way of determining which of the myriad of public servants' duties are "imposed ... by law." The words of DeLeo in referring to subsection (c) are equally applicable to subsection (a).

"The crime defined by the statute,...

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7 cases
  • State v. Short, 85-382
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • October 25, 1985
    ...So.2d 306 (Fla.1978). Accord Leon v. State, 474 So.2d 832 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), clarified on rehearing, (Aug. 30, 1985); Moosbrugger v. State, 461 So.2d 1033 (Fla. 2d DCA), approved, 472 So.2d 742 (Fla.1985). In light of these precedents, Short urges that, because of its "catch-all" language,......
  • D.T.M. v. Judd
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • June 5, 2020
    ...his two other challenges, which he failed to timely raise in the trial court but we may address nonetheless. See Moosbrugger v. State, 461 So. 2d 1033, 1034 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) ("[T]he facial validity of a statute may be raised for the first time on appeal." (citing Trushin v. State, 425 So.......
  • Davis v. State, 4-86-0664
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • October 15, 1986
    ... ...         The constitutional issues are raised for the first time on appeal. Therefore we consider them only to the extent that appellant alleges the facial unconstitutionality of the statute. See Manning v. State, 461 So.2d 1025 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985). See also Moosbrugger v. State, 461 So.2d 1033 (Fla ... 2d DCA), aff'd, 472 So.2d 742 (Fla.1985). We conclude that the statute is not unconstitutional ...         Appellant argues that the cost assessment in the statute is unreasonable and an unlawful tax. He contends that it is unrelated to any actual ... ...
  • D.F. v. State, 92-2199
    • United States
    • Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
    • September 17, 1993
    ...invalid where statute repealed after crime committed but before prosecution where no savings clause in statute); Moosbrugger v. State, 461 So.2d 1033 (Fla. 2d DCA), approved, 472 So.2d 742 (Fla.1985); Sing v. State, 115 So.2d 773 (Fla. 1st DCA 1 Section 39.061, Florida Statutes (1991) state......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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