State v. Roland, 90-2757
| Decision Date | 03 April 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-2757,90-2757 |
| Citation | 577 So.2d 680,16 Fla. L. Weekly 869 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | 67 Ed. Law Rep. 361, 16 Fla. L. Weekly 869 STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Mary ROLAND, Appellee. |
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and John Tiedemann, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Anthony Calvello, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
The state charged Appellee/Defendant/Mary Roland (Roland) by information with violating section 893.13(1)(e), Florida Statutes, for having purchased cocaine within 1000 feet of the Morris Learning Center, a kindergarten/preschool. The court dismissed the information, stating that the "Morris Learning Facility is not a school within the meaning of the statute." The state appeals the trial court's dismissal of the information. We affirm.
Section 893.13(1)(e) states, in pertinent part:
Except as authorized by this chapter, it is unlawful for any person to sell, purchase, manufacture, or deliver, or to possess with the intent to sell, purchase, manufacture, or deliver, a controlled substance in, on, or within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising a public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school (emphasis added).
The issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in concluding that, as a matter of law, the Morris Learning Center (Morris Center) is not a "public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school."
We first note that the issue is an appropriate one for a motion to dismiss. The facts in the instant case are undisputed that the Morris Center is a kindergarten/preschool program, that it enrolls students from the ages of two to six, and that the children move on to the first grade when they graduate. Thus, the issue is solely one of statutory interpretation. Therefore, because "[s]tatutory interpretation is a matter of law to be determined by the trial court," City of St. Petersburg v. Austin, 355 So.2d 486, 488 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), the trial court did not err in resolving the issue on a motion to dismiss.
The language of the instant statute, unlike the language of other statutes, does not expressly include kindergartens or preschools. See section 228.041, Florida Statutes. In Thayer v. State, 335 So.2d 815, 817 (Fla.1976), the Florida Supreme Court stated:
It is, of course, a general principle of statutory construction that the mention of one thing implies the exclusion of another; expressio unius est exclusio alterius. Hence, where a statute enumerates the things on which it is to operate, or forbids certain things, it is ordinarily to be construed as excluding from its operation...
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Com. v. Burke, 97-P-34
...even if the inference were warranted, a kindergarten, together with a preschool, is not an elementary school. See State v. Roland, 577 So.2d 680, 681 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991). In that case the court construed a similar statute (Fla. Stat. § 893.13[e] [1991] ) which provided enhanced penalties......
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A Child's Touch v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office of Colo.
..."within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising a public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school." State v. Roland, 577 So.2d 680, 681 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991).¶ 38 The Supreme Court of New Jersey followed this reasoning in vacating the conviction of a defendant charged with dis......
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Brown v. State
...the statute. The plain and ordinary meaning of "elementary school" simply does not encompass a day care center. Cf. State v. Roland, 577 So.2d 680 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991) (where the court held that a statute prohibiting drugs within 1,000 feet of a "public or private elementary, middle or se......
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State v. Edwards, 90-2737
...under Statute 893.13(1)(e). This Court does not believe that is either the letter or the intent of [that section]. In State v. Roland, 577 So.2d 680 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), this court held that section 893.13(1)(e) did not apply to kindergartens or preschools. Id. at 681. In determining whethe......