Case Title: George Turner v. State of Florida

Citation: 

Docket Number: SC96-631

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 2001-01-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
1As framed in Woods, that question is:
DOES THE PRISON RELEASEE REOFFENDER ACT, CODIFIED
AS SECTION 775.082(8), FLORIDA STATUTES (1997), VIOLATE
THE SEPARATION OF POWERS CLAUSE OF THE FLORIDA
CONSTITUTION?
Supreme Court of Florida
 
____________
No. SC96631
____________
GEORGE TURNER,
Petitioner,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Respondent.
[January 25, 2001]
LEWIS, J.
We have for review the decision in Turner v. State, 745 So. 2d 351 (Fla. 1st
DCA 1999), in which the First District certified the same question that it had
certified in Woods v. State, 740 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), approved sub
nom. State v. Cotton, 769 So. 2d 345(Fla. 2000).1  We have jurisdiction.  See Art.
2See §775.082(8), Fla. Stat. (1997).
-2-
V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
Turner challenges his sentence under the Prison Releasee Reoffender Act2
(“the Act”) on several grounds, all of which have been addressed by this Court in
other opinions.  See Grant v. State, 770 So. 2d 655 (Fla. 2000) (rejecting an ex
post facto challenge to the Act, and holding that the Act violates neither the single
subject rule for legislation nor principles of equal protection);   State v. Cotton, 769
So. 2d 345 (Fla. 2000) (holding that the Act violates neither separation of powers,
nor principles of due process by allowing a “victim veto” that precludes application
of the Act, as well as holding that the Act is not void for vagueness and does not
constitute a form of cruel or unusual punishment).  Accordingly,  the decision in
Turner is approved to the extent it is consistent with this Court’s opinions in
Cotton and Grant. 
It is so ordered.
WELLS, C.J., and SHAW, HARDING, ANSTEAD and PARIENTE, JJ, concur.
QUINCE, J., dissents with an opinion.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND
IF FILED, DETERMINED.
QUINCE, J., dissenting.
I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent in State v. Cotton, 769 So. 2d
-3-
345, 358-59 (Fla. 2000).
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal - 
Certified Great Public Importance
First District - Case No. 1D98-1312 
(Leon County)
Glen P. Gifford, Assistant Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee,
Florida,
for Petitioner
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, James W. Rogers, Tallahassee Bureau
Chief, Criminal Appeals, and Charmaine M. Millsaps, Assistant Attorney General,
Tallahassee, Florida,
for Respondent