State v. Garcia
Decision Date | 10 December 1969 |
Docket Number | No. 38790,38790 |
Parties | The STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Domingo GARCIA, Respondent. |
Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Richard E. Gerstein, State's Atty., Jack R. Blumenfeld and Charles D. Edelstein, Asst. State's Attys., Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., and Arden M. Siegendorf, Asst. Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Richard G. Taylor, Miami, for respondent.
This cause is here on petition for writ of certiorari supported by certificate of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, that its decision reported in 224 So.2d 395 is one which involves a question of great public interest. See § 4(2), art. V, Fla.Const., F.S.A.
The only question presented is whether a trial by jury can be waived by a defendant who, under indictment for a capital offense, has pleaded not guilty. This question was answered in the affirmative by the District Court.
The Florida Statutes relating to this question are as follows:
'Whoever is convicted of a capital offense and recommended to the mercy of the court by a majority of the jury in their verdict, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life; Or if found by the judge of the court, where there is no jury, to be entitled to a recommendation to mercy, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life, at the discretion of the court.' (Emphasis supplied) F.S.A. § 919.23(2).
(Emphasis supplied) F.S.A. § 912.01.
Sec. 3, art. V, Fla.Const., F.S.A., requires that the practice and procedure in all courts be governed by rules adopted by the Supreme Court. In accordance with this constitutional mandate this Court adopted the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure which, by express provision, governs the 'procedure of all criminal proceedings in state courts.' Rule 1.010, Cr.P.R., 33 F.S.A Rule 1.260, Cr.P.R., reads as follows:
'A defendant may, in writing, waive a jury trial with the approval of the court and the consent of the state.'
The rule, having been adopted pursuant to the constitutional provision, supersedes any legislative enactment governing practice and procedure to the extent that the statute and the rule may be inconsistent. See Jaworski v. City of Opa-Locka, 149 So.2d 33 (Fla.1963). The rules adopted by the Supreme Court are limited to matters of procedure, for a rule cannot abrogate or modify substantive law. In some instances it is difficult to determine whether a rule relates to a matter that is substantive or a matter that is procedural, but this difficulty does not exist in the case sub judice. Rule 1.260, Cr.P.R., merely prescribes the procedure and method of waiving a jury trial. It does not abrogate or modify substantive law.
Procedural law is sometimes referred to as 'adjective law' or 'law of remedy' or 'remedial law' and has been described as the legal machinery by which substantive law is made effective. Substantive law has been defined as that part of the law which creates, defines, and regulates rights, or that part of the law which courts are established to administer. See 52A C.J.S., Law, page 741; 20 Am.Jur.2d, Courts, § 84.
The California Court in Estate of Gogabashvele, 195 Cal.App.2d 503, 16 Cal.Rptr. 77 (1961) said:
As related to criminal law and procedure, substantive law is that which declares what acts are crimes and prescribes the punishment therefor, while procedural law is that which provides or regulates the steps by which one who violates a criminal statute is punished. See State v. Augustine, 197 Kan. 207, 416 P.2d 281 (1966).
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