Case Title: Johnsen v. State

Citation: 332 So. 2d 69

Docket Number: 45964, 45965, 45999, 46208

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1976-04-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
332 So. 2d 69 (1976)
George JOHNSEN, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.
David W. BETHEL, Appellant,
v.
State of Florida, Appellee.
Jesse Lee CAUSEY, Appellant,
v.
State of Florida, Appellee.
Dennis VALDEZ, Appellant,
v.
State of Florida, Appellee.
Nos. 46208, 45999, 45964 and 45965.

Supreme Court of Florida.
April 21, 1976.
Rehearing Denied June 10, 1976.
Albert S.C. Millar, Jr. and Gerald Kogan and Stephen J. Kogan, Miami, for appellants.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Raymond L. Marky and Frank Gomez, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.
ROBERTS, Justice.
This cause is before us on direct appeal to review judgments of the trial court impliedly upholding the constitutional validity of Section 800.02, Florida Statutes. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution. Harrell's Candy Kitchen v. Sarasota-Manatee Airport Auth., 111 So. 2d 439 (Fla. *70 1959), Demko's Gold Coast Trailer Park v. Palm Beach County, 218 So. 2d 745 (Fla. 1969), Ogle v. Pepin, 273 So. 2d 391 (Fla. 1973).
Appellants were indicted along with Frank Douglas Thomas by the Dade County Grand Jury. Thomas and Appellants Causey and Valdez[1] were charged with the crimes of extortion, assault and battery, conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act and committing an unnatural and lascivious act. Bethel was charged with the crimes of assault and battery, conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act and committing an unnatural and lascivious act. Johnsen was charged with assault and battery and conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act. Thomas and appellants jointly filed a motion to dismiss based on the ground that Section 800.02, Florida Statutes, is unconstitutional. Another motion to dismiss was filed contending that the indictment failed to properly allege any offenses against the laws of the State of Florida. The motions to dismiss were denied by the trial court. Appellants Causey, Valdez and Bethel were found guilty of the crimes conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act and committing an unnatural and lascivious act and Johnsen was found guilty of the crime of conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act. Causey and Valdez were adjudicated guilty by the court and sentenced to 60 days in the county stockade with the provision that the remaining 30 days be suspended after 30 days has been served and two years reporting probation after serving the 30 days on the conspiracy count, and two years reporting probation to run concurrently with the above probation on count four of the indictment, commission of an unnatural and lascivious act. Bethel was adjudicated guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in the county stockade with the provision that it be served on weekends and upon the service of three weekends the remainder of the sentence to be suspended, and to two years probation. Johnsen was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to sixty days in the county stockade with the final 30 days thereof to be suspended upon serving of 30 days and to two years probation.
Appellants argue that Section 800.02, Florida Statutes, is unconstitutionally vague and indefinite and that the acts for which they were convicted under counts 3 and 4 of the indictment are not a violation of Section 800.02, Florida Statutes, and that, therefore, the conviction should be reversed. Frank Douglas Thomas who was charged in the same indictment as appellants and who joined in their motions to dismiss before his motion for severance raised these same issues on appeal of his judgment of guilt to this Court in Thomas v. State, 326 So. 2d 413 (Fla. 1975), Case No. 46,416, filed December 3, 1975, Rehearing denied February 17, 1976, wherein we affirmed the judgment of the trial court, held that Section 800.02, Florida Statutes, is constitutional, and held that the acts committed by Thomas as charged in the indictment did constitute a violation of Section 800.02, Florida Statutes. As to these points, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed on the authority of Thomas v. State, supra.
Appellants contend that the closing argument of the prosecution contained several inflammatory and abusive remarks so as to constitute a violation of appellants' fundamental rights to a fair and impartial trial and that, accordingly, the trial court erred in denying motions for mistrial. In Thomas v. State, supra, as to appellant's *71 contention that certain prosecutorial remarks made in closing argument were so prejudicial and inflammatory thereby warranting declaration of a mistrial, this Court opined:
We find that the trial court did not abuse his discretion in refusing to grant a mistrial in the instant cause. In Perry v. State, 146 Fla. 187, 200 So. 525 (1941), this Court stated:
Cf. Adkins v. Smith, 205 So. 2d 530 (Fla. 1968).
The objectionable remarks made by the prosecutor sub judice were not so prejudicial that no cautionary curative instructions given by the trial judge could negate their harmful effect.
We have carefully reviewed all other points raised on appeal and argued in the briefs submitted by appellants and find them to be without merit.
Accordingly, no reversible error[2] having been made to appear, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and ADKINS and BOYD, JJ., concur.
ENGLAND, J., dissents with an opinion.
ENGLAND, Justice (dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. As the majority notes, appellants were charged in the same indictment as Frank Douglas Thomas and joined with him in the same motion to dismiss the charges based on the invalidity of Section 800.02, Florida Statutes (1973). Thomas' conviction was upheld in a decision upholding that statute, from which I dissented. Thomas v. State, Case No. 46,416, opinion filed December 3, 1975. For the reasons I expressed in Thomas, I dissent here.
[1]  Thomas was charged in the same indictment for the crimes extortion, assault and battery, conspiracy to commit an unnatural and lascivious act and committing an unnatural and lascivious act. However, having moved for severance which motion was granted, he was tried separately, was convicted of the crimes charged, was adjudicated guilty by the trial court and was sentenced to a term of six months to three years in the state prison.
[2]  Section 924.33, Florida Statutes, provides: "When judgment not to be reversed or modified. No judgment shall be reversed unless the appellate court is of the opinion, after an examination of all the appeal papers, that error was committed that injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant. It shall not be presumed that error injuriously affected the substantial rights of the appellant."