Charles Vansmith v. State of Florida , 247 So. 3d 64 ( 2018 )


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  •           FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
    STATE OF FLORIDA
    _____________________________
    No. 1D17-4169
    _____________________________
    CHARLES VANSMITH,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    STATE OF FLORIDA,
    Respondent.
    _____________________________
    Petition for Writ of Certiorari — Original Jurisdiction.
    May 10, 2018
    ROBERTS, J.
    The petitioner, Charles Vansmith, petitions this Court for a
    writ of certiorari. The petitioner argues that the trial court
    departed from the essential elements of law by using section
    775.021(4)(a), Florida Statutes (2017), to determine that it still
    had jurisdiction to keep him placed in a secure residential facility
    based on section 916.303(3), Florida Statutes (2017). We find that
    the trial court did not depart from the essential elements of law
    and deny the petition.
    On June 5, 1996, the State charged the petitioner with having
    committed two counts of lewd and lascivious acts in the presence
    of a child on March 4, 1996. On July 17, 1996, the petitioner was
    adjudged incompetent to proceed due to an intellectual disability.
    On January 5, 2005, the petitioner was committed to a secure
    residential facility, and the criminal charges against him were
    dropped. At some point, the petitioner filed a motion with the trial
    court to terminate jurisdiction. The petitioner argued that each of
    his prior charges had a maximum sentence of fifteen years in
    prison and he had been placed in a secure residential facility for
    more than fifteen years. The petitioner argued that the trial court
    only had jurisdiction for fifteen years based on section 916.303(3).
    The trial court denied the motion finding that it had jurisdiction
    for thirty years based on the court’s ability to structure sentences
    consecutively in accordance with section 775.021(4)(a), which
    prompted the petitioner to file the instant petition for writ of
    certiorari.
    Certiorari is generally the proper procedural mechanism for
    seeking review of an order that involuntarily commits a person.
    Dep’t of Children & Families v. Ramos, 
    82 So. 3d 1121
    , 1122 (Fla.
    2d DCA 2012); Woods v. State, 
    969 So. 2d 408
    , 409 (Fla. 1st DCA
    2007). Certiorari review is only available when the petitioner
    shows that the order under review (1) constitutes a departure from
    the essential elements of law and (2) results in a material injury
    for the remainder of the case, and (3) the harm cannot be remedied
    on appeal. City of Freeport v. Beach Cmty. Bank, 
    108 So. 3d 684
    ,
    687 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013). The second and third prongs are what
    provide this Court with jurisdiction, so those elements must be
    analyzed first. 
    Id.
    Because the petitioner’s liberty interests are at stake, this
    Court has jurisdiction. Certiorari jurisdiction also lies when a
    petitioner alleges that a trial court has acted in excess of its
    jurisdiction. Dep’t of Children & Families v. Carmona, 
    159 So. 3d 165
    , 166 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015).
    The petitioner’s argument is predicated on the language
    contained in section 916.303(3). When interpreting statutes, courts
    focus on legislative intent. Crews v. State, 
    183 So. 3d 329
    , 332 (Fla.
    2015). To discern legislative intent, a court first applies the plain
    and obvious meaning of the statutory text. 
    Id.
     If the language
    provides a clear and unambiguous meaning, then the court will
    apply that meaning without resorting to the rules of statutory
    construction. Gaulden v. State, 
    195 So. 3d 1123
    , 1125 (Fla. 2016).
    An ambiguity exists when reasonable people can find different
    2
    meanings in the same language. Fla. Dep’t of Transp. v. Clipper
    Bay Invs., LLC, 
    160 So. 3d 858
    , 862 (Fla. 2015). When there is an
    ambiguity, a court may look to the cannons of statutory
    interpretation and construction. Anderson v. State, 
    87 So. 3d 774
    ,
    777 (Fla. 2012).
    Section 916.303(3), states in relevant part:
    A defendant’s placement in a secure facility may not
    exceed the maximum sentence for the crime for which the
    defendant was charged.
    The phrase “maximum sentence” is not defined in chapter
    916. The phrase “maximum sentence” also means “maximum
    sentences” based on section 1.01(1), Florida Statutes (2017). Based
    on the plain language of the relevant portion of section 916.303(3),
    one could interpret the phrase “maximum sentence(s)” in two
    different ways. One interpretation is the maximum sentence a
    defendant could receive for each individual crime charged, and the
    other interpretation is the maximum allowable sentence based on
    a trial court’s sentencing structure. Since the relevant portion of
    section 916.303(3) is ambiguous, this Court resorts to the rules of
    statutory interpretation and construction.
    The legislative intent for chapter 916 is stated in section
    916.105, Florida Statutes (2017). The language contained in this
    section has remained relatively unchanged since it was enacted,
    with the exception of the enactment of subsection (4), which was
    added in 2006. See § 916.105, Fla. Stat. (1985-2017). Based on the
    stated legislative intent, it appears the Legislature was
    attempting to balance the rights and needs of the individuals with
    the need to protect society. The Legislature found the need to
    protect society so important that it made an escape or an
    attempted escape from a secure facility a second-degree felony
    when it enacted this section. See § 916.175, Fla. Stat. (1985). In
    2006, the Legislature amended section 916.175 to require any
    punishment that was imposed for an escape or attempted escape
    to run consecutively to any former sentence that had been
    imposed. See § 916.1081(2), Fla. Stat. (2006-2017).
    A well-known rule of statutory construction is that the
    Legislature is presumed to know the statutes that are in existence
    3
    at the time it enacts new legislation. Barnett v. Dep’t of Mgmt.
    Servs., 
    931 So. 2d 121
    , 132 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006). The Legislature
    enacted the relevant statutory language in 1983 in section
    916.13(3). When the new language was added, it read:
    In no case may a client’s placement in a secure facility
    pursuant to this part exceed the maximum sentence for
    the crime for which he was charged.
    At the time, the Legislature enacted the above language in
    section 916.13(3), trial courts had been authorized to structure
    sentences consecutively under section 775.021(4) for seven years,
    see section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes (1976), and singular
    versions of words included the plural versions of words for decades,
    see section 1.01, Florida Statutes (1941). Because sections
    775.021(4) and 1.01(1) had been in existence before the Legislature
    enacted the statutory language at issue, the Legislature is
    presumed to have known that a trial court could determine that it
    had jurisdiction for an extended period of time based on a
    consecutive sentencing structure.
    The petitioner urges us to apply the rule of lenity, which is
    codified in section 775.021(1). The rule of lenity is a canon of last
    resort that requires any ambiguity in the statute to be resolved in
    favor of a defendant. Kasischke v. State, 
    991 So. 2d 803
    , 814 (Fla.
    2008).
    The rule of lenity applies to statutes that criminalize or
    penalize criminal behavior. Albernaz v. United States, 
    450 U.S. 333
    , 342 (1981). Section 916.303 states:
    (1) The charges against any defendant found to be
    incompetent to proceed due to intellectual disability or
    autism shall be dismissed without prejudice to the state
    if the defendant remains incompetent to proceed within a
    reasonable time after such determination, not to exceed 2
    years, unless the court in its order specifies its reasons
    for believing that the defendant will become competent to
    proceed within the foreseeable future and specifies the
    time within which the defendant is expected to become
    competent to proceed. The charges may be refiled by the
    4
    state if the defendant is declared competent to proceed in
    the future.
    (2) If the charges are dismissed and if the defendant is
    considered to lack sufficient capacity to give express and
    informed consent to a voluntary application for services
    and lacks the basic survival and self-care skills to provide
    for his or her well-being or is likely to physically injure
    himself or herself or others if allowed to remain at liberty,
    the agency, the state attorney, or the defendant’s
    attorney shall apply to the committing court to
    involuntarily admit the defendant to residential services
    pursuant to s. 393.11.
    (3) If the defendant is considered to need involuntary
    residential services for reasons described in subsection
    (2) and, further, there is a substantial likelihood that the
    defendant will injure another person or continues to
    present a danger of escape, and all available less
    restrictive alternatives, including services in community
    residential facilities or other community settings, which
    would offer an opportunity for improvement of the
    condition have been judged to be inappropriate, the
    agency, the state attorney, or the defendant’s counsel
    may request the committing court to continue the
    defendant’s placement in a secure facility pursuant to
    this part. Any placement so continued must be reviewed
    by the court at least annually at a hearing. The annual
    review and hearing must determine whether the
    defendant continues to meet the criteria described in this
    subsection and, if so, whether the defendant still requires
    involuntary placement in a secure facility and whether
    the defendant is receiving adequate care, treatment,
    habilitation, and rehabilitation, including psychotropic
    medication and behavioral programming. Notice of the
    annual review and review hearing shall be given to the
    state attorney and the defendant’s attorney. A
    defendant’s placement in a secure facility may not exceed
    the maximum sentence for the crime for which the
    defendant was charged.
    5
    Based on the plain language contained in section 916.303, the
    statute does not criminalize behavior. The petitioner has argued
    that it punishes him because his liberty has been taken away.
    Section 916.303(1) specifically allows charges to be reinstated if
    the petitioner becomes competent. If section 916.303 punishes
    criminal behavior, then the reinstatement of charges at a later
    date would be a violation of the principles against double jeopardy.
    Double jeopardy arguments have been advanced by civilly
    committed individuals and have been reviewed by the United
    States Supreme Court. In reviewing an argument that the Kansas
    Sexually Violent Predator Act (the Act) subjected a person to
    double jeopardy, the United States Supreme Court examined the
    Act to determine if the Act was civil or criminal in nature. Kansas
    v. Hendricks, 
    521 U.S. 346
    , 360-71 (1997). The United States
    Supreme Court stated that even though a statute is placed within
    the civil statutes, the label is not always dispositive. 
    Id. at 361
    .
    Since the person committed argued that he was being punished,
    the court examined the objectives of the Act. 
    Id. at 361-64
    . The
    two primary objectives of criminal punishment are retribution and
    deterrence. 
    Id. at 361-62
    . Finding no evidence of retribution or
    deterrence in the Act and that the Act was civil in nature, the
    United States Supreme Court found that the Act did not violate
    the principles against double jeopardy. 
    Id. at 369-71
    .
    Even though section 916.303 is contained in the criminal
    procedure and corrections section, that label is not definitive.
    Upon examining sections 916.303 and 916.105, we find no evidence
    of retribution or deterrence. Since there is no evidence of an intent
    to punish a person who has been committed with the aid of section
    916.303 and no evidence that section 916.303 criminalizes
    behavior, section 775.021(1) does not apply.
    Based on the foregoing, we find that the Legislature intended
    section 775.021(4)(a) to be applied when determining the
    maximum sentence referred to in section 916.303(3). Since the
    trial court determined the petitioner’s maximum sentence utilizing
    section 775.021(4)(a), it did not depart from the essential elements
    of law. Accordingly, the petitioner has failed to meet his burden,
    and we deny the petition for writ of certiorari.
    DENIED.
    6
    WOLF and WETHERELL, JJ., concur.
    _____________________________
    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
    _____________________________
    Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Marcia M. Perlin, Assistant
    Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Petitioner.
    Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Steven Woods, Assistant
    Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Respondent.
    7