Florida Appellate Courts Bound by Shelley Case (Double Jeopardy)
Last week Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals issued an order in Santiago-Morales v Florida that acknowledged it was bound by the precedent decision in State v. Shelley, 176 So. 3d 914, 916 (Fla. 2015), which held that double-jeopardy principles prohibit separate convictions based upon the same conduct.
In other words; if you were charged with soliciting a minor over the internet and traveling to meet that minor, which arose out of the same course of conduct, the State cannot charge you with separate crimes, unless the two arose from separate criminal episodes.
Two reminders arise from this most recent appellate court decision: (1) if you are serving a sanction for separate charges arising under the same course of conduct, you should ask your attorney if you are entitled to relief, and (2) craigslist ads are police stings.
My son is in the 1 dca for this right now and they are taking forever to drop it to circuit court , been a year and his case came down from surpremes!
At least you can take comfort in knowing the outcome should be favorable.
In my sons case I do not think it would make a difference but I am wondering if this is going to apply to CP cases. There are many people sitting in prison with very long sentences because they received the minimum/max for each photograph they possessed.
This does not apply to CP – only to the offenses listed.
Why wouldn’t this apply to CP cases also? I was charged with 13 counts with only 5 files. That just doesn’t seem right.
I don’t understand why Double Jeopardy based on “the same course of conduct” isn’t applying to Statute 800.4, Attempted Lewd & Lascivious Battery when it comes to Statute 847.0135? The very definition of Statute 847.0135, is “Anyone who Attempts Statute 800.4” So how can you be charged with Traveling to Meet a Minor for sex via 847.0135, and then also “Attempting Sexual Battery” or another words Attempting to have Sex via Statute 800.4? They’re both about sex, and based off the same course of conduct? Has anyone tried to present this to the state and allow them to decide if, why, or why not 800.4 isn’t subsumed by Traveling to Meet a Minor 847.0135? Seems like common sense…?
If you are currently in prison for this, do you know if you can file a motion to be re sentenced even if you took a plea?
You will need to speak with your attorney. Some pleas include a waiver of any challenge. If you don’t have an attorney or would like a referral, contact legal@floridaactioncommittee.org