CHELSEA SIMMONS
v.
BEFORE POWELL
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The Ninth Judicial Circuit reversed a County Court dismissal of a driving-while-license-revoked charge, holding that the information properly charged a second-degree misdemeanor (not a felony) within the County Court's jurisdiction based on amended Florida Statutes § 322.34(10)(a).
The information properly charges a second-degree misdemeanor under § 322.34(10)(a), which designates driving while license revoked as a misdemeanor on a first conviction when the license was revoked for one of the specified reasons and the defendant has no prior forcible felony conviction. The allegations of the information fall squarely within the provisions of § 322.34(10)(b)(1), bringing it within the County Court's jurisdiction.
[1] A court errs when it dismisses an information based on a misinterpretation of the statutes governing the offense charged.
[2] A county court has jurisdiction over misdemeanor offenses.
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The court's summary conclusion that the County Judge erred in granting the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant was charged on December 4, 2008, with driving a motor vehicle while her driver's license was revoked as a habitual traffic offender due to f…
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Appeal from the County Court of Orange County, Florida
Honorable Faye Allen, County Court Judge
Esther M. Whitehead, Assistant State Attorney for Appellant
Chelsea Simmons, Assistant Public Defender for Appellee
Before Powell, Roche, and Johnson, J. J.
FINAL ORDER REVERSING LOWER COURT
In this case, the County Judge granted appellant’s ore tenus motion to dismiss the information because she concluded that the information charged a felony over which the County Court did not have jurisdiction. This was error. The information alleged in pertinent part that appellant did:
. . . on the 4th day of December, 2008, in violation of Florida Statutes
322.34(5) and 322.34(10)(a), drive a motor vehicle . . . while . . . her
drivers’s license was revoked as a habitual traffic offender while
said driver’s license . . . was revoked due to failing to pay for child
support or other financial obligations or failing to comply with a civil penalty or failing to maintain vehicular financial responsibility
or failing to comply with attendance or other requirements for
minors.
Section 322.34(5), Florida Statutes, provides that a person who drives while their license is revoked pursuant to section 322.264, Florida Statutes, is guilty of a felony. The information does not say that appellant’s license was revoked pursuant to section 322.264, Florida Statutes. It does not allege any of the reasons why a license can be revoked under that section.
Later, section 322.34, Florida Statues, was amended to add sub-section (10) which took effect July 1, 2008, some four months before the offense was alleged to have been committed and was thus applicable to appellant’s case. Sub-section (10)(a) provides that if a person does not have a prior forcible felony conviction and their license was revoked for one of the reasons specified in sub-section (10)(b), then upon a first conviction for driving while license revoked, the person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree.
The information does not allege that appellant had a prior forcible felony conviction or that appellant had a prior conviction for driving while license revoked. What it does allege is that appellant violated “Florida Statutes 322.34(5) and 322.34 (10)(a),” and then goes on to allege all the five reasons for revocation listed in (10)(a)1-5. Consequently, the allegations of the information bring it squarely within the provisions of (10)(b)1., which designates the offense as a second degree misdemeanor. We therefore conclude that the information properly charges the misdemeanor offense of Driving While License Revoked over which the County Court had jurisdiction.
REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings. DONE and ORDERED at Orlando, Florida this 24th day of August, 2010.
/S/
Rom W. Powell, Senior Judge
/S/
/S/ Renee A. Roche, Circuit Court Judge
Anthony H. Johnson, Circuit Court Judge
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a copy hereof has been furnished to Esther M. Whitehead, Assistant State Attorney, attorney for appellant, 415 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando Florida 32801, and to Chelsea Simmons, Assistant Public Defender, attorney for appellee, 435 N. Orange Ave., Suite 400, Orlando Florida 32801, by mail, this 24th day of August, 2010.
/S/_______________________________
Judicial Assistant