MZ v. State, 98-2842.
Decision Date | 25 October 1999 |
Docket Number | No. 98-2842.,98-2842. |
Parties | M.Z., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Edward C. Hill, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for appellee.
Appellant, a juvenile, challenges the constitutionality of section 985.227(1)(a). Because we find that appellant has not demonstrated that he has been, or assuredly will be, adversely affected by the statute, we decline to reach the constitutional issues raised, and dismiss this appeal.
Upon information directly filed in the Adult Criminal Division of the Circuit Court, appellant, a 15-year-old juvenile, was charged with the crimes of armed robbery and grand theft. Appellant moved to dismiss the charges on grounds that the statute giving the state attorney discretion to direct file the adult charges against him was unconstitutional. The trial court denied the motion. He subsequently entered a negotiated plea of guilty to the lesser charge of burglary of a dwelling, in return for the state dropping the other charge. Appellant specifically reserved his right to appeal the denial of the motion to dismiss, and at sentencing, his attorney renewed the arguments regarding the constitutional infirmity of the statute. After ordering and receiving a predisposition report from the Department of Juvenile Justice (department), the trial court announced at sentencing that it would impose juvenile sanctions. Appellant was adjudicated a delinquent child and committed to the custody of the department for an indeterminate term not to exceed his nineteenth birthday or the maximum allowed by law. Specifically, appellant was ordered into a level six commitment with the department to be followed by a period of post-commitment community control following his release from the commitment.
Appellant argues that the constitutional issues raised in this appeal were not rendered moot by the trial court's treatment of him as a juvenile since the trial court could impose adult sanctions on him if he fails to successfully complete his juvenile commitment and post-commitment community control. We find no merit in this argument.
Section 985.227(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1997), authorizes the state attorney to directly file adult criminal charges against any child 14 years of age or older who has committed armed burglary, grand theft, or any other felony specified in the statute. Section 985.233(4), Florida Statutes (1997), authorizes a trial court to impose juvenile sanctions on any child who has been charged by information as an adult. Section 985.233(4) also allows a trial court, under specified circumstances, to impose adult sanctions on a juvenile upon whom juvenile sanctions have been previously imposed for a particular offense:
§ 985.233(4)(b) & (c), Fla. Stat. (1997) (emphasis added).
rev. denied, 722 So.2d 195 (Fla.1998).
In this case, while appellant may have initially been charged as an adult, the proceedings against him became, for all intents and purposes, juvenile proceedings once the trial court elected to treat him as a juvenile for...
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