State v. Harris

Citation881 So.2d 1079
Decision Date13 May 2004
Docket Number No. SC02-2172, No. SC02-2440.
PartiesSTATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Morris HARRIS, Respondent. State of Florida, Petitioner, v. Donald Gentes, Respondent.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Florida

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, James W. Rogers, Tallahassee Bureau Chief, Criminal Appeals, and Thomas H. Duffy, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL; and Richard L. Polin, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Miami, FL, for Petitioner.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and Robert S. Friedman, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, FL, for Respondents.

CANTERO, J.

In these consolidated cases we consider whether the State breaches a plea agreement under which a defendant is sentenced to a term of imprisonment followed by probation, with no mention of civil commitment, when the State later initiates civil commitment proceedings under the Jimmy Ryce Act. The First District Court of Appeal held that it did, but certified the following questions of great public importance:

MAY THE STATE INITIATE DISCRETIONARY CIVIL COMMITMENT PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE RYCE ACT (PART V OF CHAPTER 394, FLORIDA STATUTES) WHERE, BY SEEKING CIVIL COMMITMENT, THE STATE WOULD VIOLATE THE TERMS OF A PLEA AGREEMENT PREVIOUSLY ENTERED INTO WITH THE DEFENDANT?
IS A PLEA AGREEMENT FOR PRISON TIME FOLLOWED BY PROBATION VIOLATED WHEN THE STATE LATER INITIATES DISCRETIONARY CIVIL COMMITMENT PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE JIMMY RYCE ACT (PART V OF CHAPTER 394, FLORIDA STATUTES)?
IN THE CIRCUMSTANCE DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST QUESTION, IS THE STATE BARRED BY EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL FROM SEEKING CIVIL COMMITMENT?

Harris v. State, 879 So.2d 1223, 1228 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002), reh'g denied, 879 So.2d at 1237 (Fla. 1st DCA Oct.4, 2002). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We decline to answer the first question because it assumes what we need to decide: whether the State breached the plea agreement. We answer only the latter two questions. Based on our decision in Murray v. Regier, 872 So.2d 217 (Fla. 2002), we answer those questions in the negative and quash the decision below.

I. FACTS

These consolidated cases involve similar facts, which we detail below. In both cases, the defendants executed plea agreements under which they were sentenced to a term of imprisonment followed by a period of probation. Neither agreement mentioned the possibility of involuntary civil commitment. The plea agreements were executed in 1995 (Harris) and 1993 (Gentes), before the Ryce Act became law, and therefore neither party could have contemplated the possibility of civil commitment. The Ryce Act became effective as of January 1, 1999. See Ch. 98-64, § 24, at 455, Laws of Fla. Subsequently, before their terms of incarceration expired, the State initiated civil commitment proceedings against them under the Ryce Act. The respondents claim that by doing so, the State has violated their plea agreements.

A. State v. Harris

In 1995, Morris Harris entered a plea of nolo contendere and was adjudicated guilty of two counts of lewd and lascivious assault on a child under sixteen years of age. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, with eight years of the sentence suspended for probation with sexual offender counseling.1 On May 27, 1999, four days before Harris's tentative release date from prison, the State filed a petition seeking civil commitment under the Ryce Act. See §§ 394.910-.931, Fla. Stat. (1999). Harris then filed a motion to enforce the plea agreement and sentence in the 1995 criminal case, arguing that the involuntary civil commitment proceedings violated the plea agreement. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the State had not violated the plea agreement because (1) the Ryce Act had not been enacted at the time of the plea, (2) the civil commitment was an unforeseen, collateral consequence of the plea, and (3) Harris was serving probation while awaiting trial in the civil proceeding. Harris later filed a motion to dismiss the commitment petition, arguing that as applied to him, the Ryce Act constituted an ex post facto law and violated his right to due process. The trial court denied this motion as well.2 After a non-jury trial, the trial court found by clear and convincing evidence that Harris met the criteria for civil commitment.

Harris appealed the verdict and the denial of the motion to dismiss, and the cases were consolidated. The First District reversed and remanded on both appeals, finding that "the state breached its plea agreement to allow Harris the privilege of seeking treatment as a sexual offender during the probationary portion of his sentence by seeking civil commitment shortly before he had completed the incarcerative portion of his sentence." Harris, 879 So.2d at 1228. The First District also certified the first question stated above. Id.

In denying the State's motions for rehearing and rehearing en banc, the First District issued another opinion addressing Harris's probationary status. Evidently, the State had represented at oral argument that Harris was not on probation while civilly committed, and would not begin serving probation until he successfully completed treatment and was released. 879 So.2d at 1235. On motion for rehearing, the State claimed that its concession "was ill-advised and in error." The State argued that Harris was receiving sexual offender treatment during the probationary period of his sentence, and thus, the State had honored the plea agreement. The First District disagreed that Harris was then currently on active probation while confined under the Ryce Act. Moreover, "[e]ven if it could be said that [Harris] is currently on active probation while in the custody of DCFS, this would raise a double jeopardy issue, because of the change in probationary conditions his internment represents." Id. The First District then certified the second and third questions stated above. Id. at 1236.

B. State v. Gentes

In 1993, Donald Gentes entered no contest pleas to five counts of lewd and lascivious assault and was sentenced to ten years in prison on two of the counts, the sentences to be served consecutively, to fifteen years' probation on two others (consecutive), and fifteen years' probation (concurrent with the other probation charges) on the final count. On May 14, 1999, an order of probation was entered, nunc pro tunc to October 22, 1993.

Before Gentes's release from prison, the State filed a petition for civil commitment. Gentes filed a motion to enforce the plea agreement and sentence, alleging that the State's petition for civil commitment breached the plea agreement because it placed him in a "prison-like setting." The trial court denied the motion.

Gentes appealed, and the First District reversed based on its prior decision in Harris. See Gentes v. State, 828 So.2d 1051 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002)

. The First District also certified the same questions as certified in Harris, but noted that only the two questions certified in the opinion on motions for rehearing need be considered because the question in the original Harris opinion "jumps over the central issue in the case by assuming the plea agreement was breached when the State sought civil commitment." Gentes, 828 So.2d at 1053. Although obligated to follow Harris, the panel in Gentes expressed its reservations about that decision. It noted that "the Harris holding may not be in concert with the apparent consensus of other states finding civil commitment of sexually violent predators, under similar state laws, does not violate the terms of a plea agreement." Gentes, at 1052 (citing several cases from other states). The court also noted that "our sister court has previously held that subsequent designation as a sexual violent predator under Florida law does not violate a plea agreement." Id. (citing Collie v. State, 710 So.2d 1000 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)).

We now review this issue in these consolidated review proceedings.

II. DISCUSSION

The First District certified three questions to us, two of which we answer: (A) whether the State violates a plea agreement that sentences a defendant to a term of imprisonment followed by probation by initiating civil commitment proceedings under the Jimmy Ryce Act; and (B) whether, under such circumstances, principles of equitable estoppel prohibit the State from initiating civil commitment proceedings. We discuss each issue in turn.

A. Do civil commitment proceedings violate a prior plea agreement that did not mention such proceedings?

Respondents first allege that by later initiating civil commitment proceedings in each case, the State breached the plea agreements. The First District agreed. We do not. Instead, we hold that our recent decision in Murray v. Regier, 872 So.2d 217 (Fla. 2002), answers the question. The First District did not have the benefit of that decision because it was pending review in this Court at the time. See Murray v. Kearney, 770 So.2d 273 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)

(on rehearing), quashed sub nom. Murray v. Regier, 872 So.2d 217 (Fla. 2002).

The Ryce Act provides for the involuntary civil commitment of persons who are convicted of sexual offenses and found to be sexually violent predators. See generally Westerheide v. State, 831 So.2d 93 (Fla.2002). To commit a person under the Ryce Act, the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility for long-term control, care, and treatment. See §§ 394.912(10), 394.917. Therefore, although a prior criminal conviction of a sexually violent offense is a necessary condition for commitment, it is not sufficient in itself. As we emphasized in Westerheide, "involuntary commitment under the Ryce Act is based upon an individual's current mental state that...

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