State ex rel. Welch v. Circuit Court In and For Escambia County, BL-26
| Decision Date | 09 April 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. BL-26,BL-26 |
| Citation | 487 So.2d 65,11 Fla. L. Weekly 854 |
| Parties | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 854 STATE of Florida, ex rel. Allen Quincy WELCH, Petitioner, v. The CIRCUIT COURT In and For ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Florida, and the Honorable John T. Parnham, one of the judges of such court, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Nicholas J. Capuano, Miami, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Norma J. Mungenast, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Petitioner seeks to prohibit his trial on charges of armed robbery alleging that the statute of limitations, section 775.15, Florida Statutes (1977), has expired.
Section 775.15 which was in effect at the time of the charged offense provides in pertinent part:
775.15 Time limitations.--
(1) A prosecution for a capital or life felony may be commenced at any time....
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this section, prosecutions for other offenses are subject to the following periods of limitation:
(a) A prosecution for a felony of the first degree must be commenced within 4 years after it is committed.
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(5) A prosecution is commenced when either an indictment or information is filed....
(6) The period of time limitation does not run during any time when the defendant is continuously absent from the state or has no reasonably ascertainable place of abode or work within the state, but in no case shall this provision extend the period of limitation otherwise applicable by more than 3 years.
The offense with which petitioner is charged is a first degree felony. Thus, under the foregoing provisions, the maximum period of time which may elapse between the date of the crime and the commencement of prosecution is seven years. Here, the crime occurred on September 8, 1977. Although a warrant for petitioner's arrest was issued within a few days, the warrant was never executed and no further activity occurred until after seven years had elapsed. That is, no indictment or information was filed until after the limitation period had expired.
Relying on Sturdivan v. State, 419 So.2d 300 (Fla.1982), respondent argues that the issuance of the arrest warrant in 1977 commenced prosecution for purposes of the statute of limitations. In Sturdivan, however, the crime giving rise to the appeal occurred at a time when a previous statute of limitations, section 932.465, Fla.Stat. (1971), was in effect. Section 932.465 did not include a definition of the term "commencement" and under that statute, the court held that prosecution could be commenced by the issuance of a warrant. However, due to the express and unambiguous definition of the term "commencement" in the current statute, the rationale of Sturdivan is not applicable to prosecutions for crimes committed after the effective date of section 775.15. Therefore, we find that the trial court improperly denied petitioner's motion to dismiss.
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State v. Watkins
...him of the charges that the state may or may not file against him at a later date. State ex rel. Allen Quincy Welch v. Circuit Court In and For Escambia County, 487 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1st DCA), rev. denied, 492 So.2d 1330 (Fla.1986). See also State v. Fields, 505 So.2d 1336 (Fla.1987). Time lim......
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Brown v. State, 85-2858
...not constitute the commencement of prosecution under this statute. State v. Fields, 505 So.2d 1336 (Fla.1987); State ex rel. Welch v. Circuit Court, 487 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 492 So.2d 1330 As to the second issue, since a juvenile delinquency proceeding is not criminal in ......
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State v. Fields
...Hence, we hold that Sturdivan cannot be considered as having interpreted section 775.15(5). Accord State ex rel. Welch v. Circuit Court of Escambia County, 487 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 492 So.2d 1330 Likewise, we agree with the district court of appeal that the word "executed......
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State v. Fields, 4-86-0164
...Florida Statutes, and that is why we come to the opposite result. Another recent case, State ex rel. Welch v. The Circuit Court in and for Escambia County, 487 So.2d 65 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), clearly supports our position. We regret that neither party filed a notice of supplementary authority......