Case Name: Clyde Albert ROWE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1955-05-20
Citations: 84 So. 2d 709
Docket Number: 
Parties: Clyde Albert ROWE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: DREW, C. J., TERRELL, J., and FLOYD, Associate Justice, concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 84
Pages: 709–711

Head Matter:
Clyde Albert ROWE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Supreme Court of Florida. Special Division A.
May 20, 1955.
On Rehearing en Banc, Jan. 18, 1956.
Sam E. Murrell, Sam E. Murrell, Jr., and Robert G. Murrell, Orlando, for appellant.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and George E. Owen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for ap-pellee.

Opinion:
SEBRING, Justice.
The appeal is from a judgment and sentence for a violation of the lottery laws.
The appellant, who was the defendant below, was charged in a four-count information with violating the lottery laws of the state. The first and second counts charged, in effect, that the appellant was unlawfully interested in and connected with a lottery by reason of the fact that he had purchased, and held in his possession, a gambling stamp from the federal government. The third count charged that the appellant "did unlawfully set up, promote and conduct a certain lottery and lotteries for money." The fourth count charged that the appellant "did unlawfully aid and assist in the setting up, promoting and conducting of a certain lottery and lotteries for money."
At the trial of the cause the jury found the defendant guilty on the first and third counts of the information. The trial court adjudged the defendant to be guilty on both counts but sentenced him only on the third count, to one year at hard labor.
On this appeal the appellant contends that count one of the information did not charge a criminal offense; and with this contention we agree. Aside from the fact that the act charged in count one of the information was committed prior to the effective date of the Florida Wagering Stamp Act, Chapter 28057, Laws of Florida 1953, F.S.A. § 849.051, and therefore could not have been in violation of its terms, Rodriguez v. Culbreath, Fla., 66 So.2d 58, it is held, in Jefferson v. Sweat, Fla., 76 So.2d 494, with reference to the act, that inasmuch as sections 1 and 3 thereof, when construed together, "attempt to make the mere possession of the [federal gambling] stamp primá facie evidence of the violation of the gambling laws and sufficient evidence to convict without any proof whatsoever that any gambling. law has been violated, [the act] is unconstitutional, null and void." It follows from this that the judgment, so far as it is based on the first count of the information, was erroneously entered and must be set aside.
We have considered all assignments of error directed to the judgment and sentence on the third count of the information and are of the opinion that the appellant has failed to make reversible error appear.
Accordingly, the judgment appealed from should be reversed as to the first count of the information and the judgment and sentence as to the third count should be affirmed.
It is so ordered.
DREW, C. J., TERRELL, J., and FLOYD, Associate Justice, concur.