Case Title: State v. Lindsay

Citation: 284 So. 2d 377

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1973-10-24T00:00:00Z

Document:
284 So. 2d 377 (1973)
STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Earl L. LINDSAY, Appellee.
No. 42829.

Supreme Court of Florida.
October 24, 1973.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Andrew W. Lindsey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Rick B. Levinson, Tampa, for appellee.
ROBERTS, Justice.
This appeal has been transferred to us by the Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, pursuant to Florida Appellate Rules 2.1a. (5)(d) and 2.1a. (5)(a), 32 F.S.A., to review the order of the magistrate's court of the County of Hillsborough dismissing criminal charges against the appellee and directly passing upon the validity of Florida Statutes, Section 828.19, F.S.A., thereby vesting jurisdiction in this Court pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution, as amended 1973, F.S.A.
Appellee was informed against for contributing to the delinquency of a minor in violation of Florida Statutes, Section 828.19, in that on the 6th day of June, 1972, in Hillsborough County, he "did unlawfully cause and encourage Mary Jo Foster, a female child of the age of sixteen (16) to become delinquent by having unlawful sexual intercourse with the said Mary Jo Foster."
Appellee filed a motion to dismiss the information on the grounds that Florida *378 Statutes (1971), Section 828.19, F.S.A. is unconstitutional as overbroad and void for vagueness. This statute provides, as follows:
The trial judge in dismissing the charge ruled:
The aforestated statute provides that the definition for delinquent child should be derived from the general laws of Florida. Florida Statutes (1972), Section 39.01(11),[1] defines delinquent child, as follows:
Section 39.01(13)(a), (b), Florida Statutes (1972), F.S.A., defines violation of the law, as follows:
*379 "Child" is defined by Section 39.01 to mean:
We disagree with the trial court and find that the statutory provision in question is neither impermissibly vague nor unnecessarily overbroad. The test of vagueness of a statute is whether the language of a statute conveys a sufficiently definite warning as to the proscribed conduct when measured by common understanding and practice. Zachary v. State, 269 So. 2d 669 (Fla. 1972), Newman v. Carson, 280 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 1973). This Court in Orlando Sports Stadium, Inc. v. State ex rel. Powell, 262 So. 2d 881, 884 (Fla. 1972) opined that to make a statute sufficiently certain to comply with constitutional requirements, it is not necessary that it furnish detailed plans and specifications of the acts or conduct prohibited. The statute must give reasonable notice that a person's conduct is restricted by the statute. Papachristou et al. v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 92 S. Ct. 839, 31 L. Ed. 2d 110 (1972). This Court in its very recent opinion of Newman v. Carson, supra, quoted the following definitive language from Brock v. Hardie, 114 Fla. 670, 154 So. 690, 694 (1934):
In considering the constitutionality vel non of a Jacksonville vagrancy oridnance the Supreme Court of the United States made a recent pronouncement on the standard to be employed to determine vagueness and overbreadth of a statute. That court stated in Papachristou et al. v. City of Jacksonville, supra, at 162-163 of 405 U.S.  at 843-844 of 92 S.Ct., the following:
The statute presently in question before this Court provides persons with notice of the prohibited acts and is not so broad that it would lead to arbitrary and erratic arrests and convictions. This statute does not purport to punish conduct which by modern standards would be considered innocent.
This Court has previously examined the constitutionality vel non of Section 828.19, Florida Statutes (1959),[2] F.S.A. in 1960 in its decision of State v. Barone, 124 So. 2d 490, wherein this Court held that this statute was not unconstitutionally vague. Section 828.19 (1959) and Section 828.19 (1972) vary only as to the severity of the penalty to be imposed upon conviction; otherwise, the language is the same. Examination of the statutory change in Section 39.01(11), Florida Statutes (1959), F.S.A. reveals that all alternative acts in addition to violation of the law that formerly caused a child to be delinquent, to-wit:
have been eliminated from the classification of delinquent child. An exception has also since been made whereby violation of a juvenile traffic offense does not constitute delinquency. These changes rather than rendering the statute in question more broad and indefinite, as appellee contended in his motion to dismiss, narrow the scope of the statute and make it more specific. In State v. Barone, supra, at 493, this Court stated:
Although the validity vel non of the information has not been raised by parties, we feel impelled by way of caveat to point out what may be a defect in the information. The information filed against appellee is inadequate to state the statutory crime charged. Section 828.19, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., establishes an offense "In all cases where any child shall be a dependent or delinquent child, as defined under the laws of Florida, ...". The information filed against appellee by the county solicitor failed to allege that the female was a "dependent" or "delinquent" child. To the contrary, it only alleges that appellee "... did unlawfully cause and encourage Mary Jo Foster, a female child, to become delinquent by having unlawful intercourse with the said Mary Jo Foster."
Accordingly, we hold that Section 828.19, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., is constitutional and reverse the order of the trial court granting appellee's motion to dismiss and remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed. Any trial should be conducted pursuant to a properly amended information.
It is so ordered.
CARLTON, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur.
ERVIN, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an Opinion.
ERVIN, Justice (concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I agree with the majority that the information fails to follow F.S. Section 828.19, F.S.A., as pointed out in the opinion. However, under that construction of the statute as applied in this case, it is apparent the statute is unconstitutionally vague and uncertain. Also, I agree with the trial judge the statute is without constitutional standards prescribing with certainty the prohibited acts.
[1]  Chapter 72-179, Laws of Florida, amended Section 39.01, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. to provide an exception to the definition of delinquent child. Chapter 72-404, Laws of Florida, which became effective on the effective date of Senate Joint Resolution 52-D, January 1, 1973, repealed Subsections (2) and (3) of Section 39.01. Therefore, Subsection (11) of Section 39.01 defining delinquent child has now been renumbered as Subsection (9); Subsection (13) has become Subsection (11); and Subsection (6) is now Subsection (4).
[2]  Section 828.19, Florida Statutes (1959), provided:

"In all cases where any child shall be a dependent or delinquent child, as defined under the laws of Florida, any person or persons who shall by any act encourage, cause, or contribute to the dependency or delinquency of such child, and any parent or legal guardian of such child who shall by neglect of duty as such parent or legal guardian encourage, cause, or contribute to the dependency or delinquency of such child, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than three months; provided, however, that the court may suspend sentence for a violation of the provisions of this section and impose conditions as to the conduct, in the premises, of any person so convicted, and make such suspension to depend upon the fulfillment by such person of such conditions, and in case of the breach of such conditions, or any thereof, the court may impose sentence as though there had been no such suspension. The Court may also, as a condition of such suspension, require a bond in such sum as the court may designate, to be approved by the judge requiring same, to secure the performance by such person of the conditions placed by the court on such suspension; such bond shall by its terms be made payable to the state, and any moneys received for a breach of this or any other section of this chapter shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the fine and forfeiture fund or maintenance of children under this chapter.