DEMETRIUS CARTER
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 4th DCA | 2025-11-12
No. 2025-0249
Heisey, J., Ciklin, J., Levine, J., Forst, J.
2025 FL 10625 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2025)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

Florida's prohibition on firearm possession by convicted felons, codified in section 790.23, Florida Statutes, survives constitutional scrutiny under both the state and federal constitutions.


Headnotes

[1] A state statute prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms does not violate the Second Amendment or state constitutional protections, as such prohibitions are…

Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Whether based on the language from McDonald, Heller, and Bruen excluding convicted felons from having protected Second Amendment rights, or whether based on the historical tradition of the Second Amendment as given by Bruen, we conclude that Florida law prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms survives Second Amendment scrutiny.”

From Edenfield v. State, cited by the court to support its affirmance

Facts & Procedural History

Demetrius Carter appealed a conviction or judgment from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in St. Lucie County, challenging the con…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
Forst

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FOURTH DISTRICT

DEMETRIUS CARTER, Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 4D2025-0249

[November 12, 2025]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St. Lucie County; Michael C. Heisey, Judge; L.T. Case No. 2023CF000585A.

Daniel Eisinger, Public Defender, and Benjamin N. Paley, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Sorraya M. Solages-Jones, Senior Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. See Nelson v. State, 195 So. 2d 853 (Fla. 1967) (rejecting a state constitutional challenge to section 790.23, Florida Statutes); Fleming v. State, 414 So. 3d 175 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025), reh’g denied (May 30, 2025) (rejecting a federal constitutional challenge to section 790.23); Paul v. State, 381 So. 3d 617 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024) (upholding constitutionality of section 790.23); Edenfield v. State, 379 So. 3d 5, 9–10 (Fla. 1st DCA 2023) (“Whether based on the language from McDonald, Heller, and Bruen excluding convicted felons from having protected Second Amendment rights, or whether based on the historical tradition of the Second Amendment as given by Bruen, we conclude that Florida law prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms survives Second Amendment scrutiny.”), reh’g denied, 375 So. 3d 930 (Fla. 1st DCA 2023), rev. denied, No. SC2023-1106, 2023 WL 8710101 (Fla. Dec. 18, 2023).

CIKLIN, LEVINE and FORST, JJ., concur.

* * *

2

Not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw