Case Name: Michael John SIMMONS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2004-11-15
Citations: 886 So. 2d 399
Docket Number: No. 1D02-4977
Parties: Michael John SIMMONS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: HAWKES, J. concurs; BROWNING, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part by Separate Opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 886
Pages: 399–414

Head Matter:
Michael John SIMMONS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 1D02-4977.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Nov. 15, 2004.
Wm. J. Sheppard and Matthew R. Ka-ehergus of Sheppard, White and Thomas, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant.
Charlie Crist, Attorney General; Charlie McCoy, Senior Assistant Attorney General; and Robert R. Wheeler, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appel-lee.

Opinion:
POLSTON, J.
Appellant Michael John Simmons brings facial constitutional challenges against criminal statutes sections 847.0135 and 847.0138, Florida Statutes (2002), relating to use of the Internet. These constitutional issues are reviewed de novo. See Enter. Leasing Co. S. Cent., Inc. v. Hughes, 833 So.2d 832, 834 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). Because these statutes are not unconstitutional, we affirm the appellant's convictions under these statutes.
In the early morning hours of July 1, 2002, a Columbia County Deputy Sheriff entered an Internet chat room, titled "I like older men," posing as a 13-year old girl named "Sandi." An on-line conversation ensued between Sandi and appellant, who was in the Commonwealth of Virginia. After Sandi identified herself as a 13-year-old girl in Florida, appellant repeatedly communicated with Sandi about sexual activities, sent nude pictures of himself to Sandi, asked Sandi to send him a pair of panties, asked to teach Sandi about sex, encouraged Sandi to meet him for sexual activities, and eventually made a trip to Lake City, Florida, in order to meet Sandi for three days of sexual activities at a hotel. Members of the Columbia County Sheriffs Office met and arrested appellant at the hotel in Lake City, Florida, upon his arrival.
Appellant was charged in count one with luring or enticing a child by use of an online service, in violation of section 847.0135, in count two with transmission of materials harmful to a minor, in violation of section 847.0138, and in count three with carrying a concealed firearm, in violation of section 790.01(2), Florida Statutes (2002). Appellant moved to dismiss count one of the information, alleging that section 847.0135 imposes an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce in violation of Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. He moved to dismiss count two on the grounds that section 847.0138 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 4 and 9 of the Florida Constitution and imposes an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce in violation of Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. Appellant also moved to dismiss count two of the information on the basis that his prosecution for violations of both sections 847.0135 and 847.0138 constituted a double jeopardy violation. In addition, appellant moved to dismiss both counts one and two on the ground that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to proceed on the matter.
Following hearings on appellant's motions to dismiss, the trial court denied the motions. After the trial court ruled, appellant pled no contest to counts one and two of the information, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his dispositive motions to dismiss. Appellant was sentenced to two concurrent five-year terms of probation. We affirm the trial court's ruling rejecting the dormant commerce clause challenge against section 847.0135, in count one, in accordance with this court's recent ruling in Cashatt v. State, 873 So.2d 430 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004) (holding that section 847.0135 does not violate the commerce clause).
I.
Appellant challenges section 847.0138 on the basis that it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Sections 4 and 9 of the Florida Constitution. Section 847.0138 states:
(1) For purposes of this section:
(a) "Known by the defendant to be a minor" means that the defendant had actual knowledge or believed that the recipient of the communication was a minor.
(b) "Transmit" means to send to a specific individual known by the defendant to be a minor via electronic mail.
(2) Notwithstanding ss. 847.012 and 847.0133, any person in this state who knew or believed that he or she was transmitting an image, information, or data that is harmful to minors, as defined in s. 847.001, to a specific individu al known by the defendant to be a minor in this state commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775,083, or s. 775.084.
(3) Notwithstanding ss. 847.012 and 847.0133, any person in any jurisdiction other than this state who knew or believed that he or she was transmitting an image, information, or data that is harmful to minors, as defined in s. 847.001, to a specific individual know by the defendant to be a minor in this state commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(Emphasis added). Relevant definitions, provided in section 847.001, are:
(1) "Adult" means a person 18 years of age or older.
(6) "Harmful to minors" means any reproduction, imitation, characterization, description, exhibition, presentation, or representation, of whatever kind or form, depicting nudity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement when it:
(a) Predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors;
(b) Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and
(c) Taken as a whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Appellant contends that section 847.0138 is not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest, is vague, and is overbroad. We disagree and, therefore, affirm.
Appellant argues that because section 847.0138 restricts expression protected by the First Amendment based on its content, it is presumptively invalid and can only be upheld if it survives strict scrutiny, citing United States v. Playboy Entm't Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803, 813, 120 S.Ct. 1878, 146 L.Ed.2d 865 (2000). The State concedes that strict scrutiny applies as argued by appellant and makes no argument that the prohibited expression that is "harmful to minors" constitutes obscene communication not protected by the First Amendment. "Sexual expression which is indecent but not obscene is protected by the First Amendment." Sable Communications of Cal., Inc. v. FCC, 492 U.S. 115, 126, 109 S.Ct. 2829, 106 L.Ed.2d 93 (1989). Accordingly, because section 847.0138 "regulates speech based on its content, it must be narrowly tailored to promote a compelling Government interest, [citing Sable Communications, 492 U.S. at 126, 109 S.Ct. 2829], If a less restrictive alternative would serve the Government's purpose, the legislature must use that alternative." Playboy Entm't Group, Inc., 529 U.S. at 813, 120 S.Ct. 1878.
"The state has a compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of children, which extends to shielding minors from material that is not obscene by adult standards, but the means must be carefully tailored to achieve that end so as not to unnecessarily deny adults access to material which is indecent (constitutionally protected), but not obscene (unprotected). See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 244-45, 122 S.Ct. 1389, 152 L.Ed.2d 403 (2002); Sable Communications, 492 U.S. at 130-31, 109 S.Ct. 2829, 106 L.Ed.2d 93." Cashatt v. State, 873 So.2d 430, 434 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); see also Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844, 875, 117 S.Ct. 2329, 138 L.Ed.2d 874 (1997)(stating that the Court has "repeatedly" recognized the government's interest in protecting children from harmful materials, citing Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629, 639, 88 S.Ct. 1274, 20 L.Ed.2d 195 (1968) and FCC v. Pacifica Found., 438 U.S. 726, 749, 98 S.Ct. 3026, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978)); Morris v. State, 789 So.2d 1032, 1036 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) (en banc) (holding that a defendant committed a lewd or lascivious act by telling a child that he desired to engage her in oral sex, using language which described this in a graphic manner; the dissent opined that the majority's construction of the lewd or lascivious statute was "outlawing speech" and should be more narrowly construed to not apply to speech so it would not be unconstitutional). Appellant does not argue that the government lacks a compelling interest, but asserts that section 847.0138 is not sufficiently tailored to promote such an interest.
Appellant argues that section 847.0138 is overbroad because it "limits communications on the Internet to those which would only be suitable for children, thereby depriving adults of their constitutional right to engage in protected speech." We disagree because section 847.0138 only pertains to harmful images, information, or data that is sent to a specific individual known by the defendant to be minor, "via electronic mail." See § 847.0138(l)(b), 847.0138(3), Fla. Stat. Because the defendant must have actual knowledge or believe that the recipient of the communication was a minor, see § 847.0138(l)(a), Fla. Stat., adults are not deprived of their constitutional right to engage in protected speech. Communications from adult to adult(s), from adult to those who are believed to be an adult (including minors who are posing as an adult on the Internet), and from adult to those who are not known (by actual knowledge or belief) to be an adult or minor are not restricted by this statute. Only communications to a minor are prohibited.
Much of the constitutional discussion by the parties and by my respected colleague, Judge Browning, in his dissent, involves "chat rooms" and whether indecent, but not obscene, adult to adult speech is chilled by the statute. The analysis for protection of speech under the First Amendment is the same when the speech occurs in a computer chat room with text messaging as when the speech occurs in a normal room with everyone physically present speaking audibly. If an adult and a minor are in a room and the adult conveys harmful material to the minor, there is no chilling effect and no constitutional protection should be afforded to the offending adult. If there are other adults in the room, the offending adult may convey the indecent material to the other adults without concern of violating the statute, even though the minor is present in the room. There is no chilling effect of the statute for adult to adult communication because it has no application. An adult cannot convey harmful material to the minor with other adults watching with constitutional protection just because he can get other adults in the room to watch his harmful, indecent behavior specifically directed to the minor. We decline to follow such twisted constitutional analysis.
Section 847.0138 does not prohibit information posted on websites directed to the public. The prohibited communication from the adult to the minor must be sent by "electronic mail." See § 847.0138(l)(b), Fla. Stat. "Mail" is defined as "[o]ne or more written or oral messages sent electronically (e.g., through e-mail or voice-mail)." Black's Law Dictionary 963 (7th ed.1999); see also Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 701 (10th ed.l998)(defin-ing "mail" as "messages sent electronically to an individual (as through a computer system))." The electronic mail must be "transmitted," defined in section 847.0138(l)(b) as "to send to a specific individual known by the defendant to be a minor via electronic mail." We agree with the State that for the electronic mail to be sent to a specific individual, it must be specifically addressed to the individual, whether in instant messaging or e-mails sent and read at different times. See Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 701 (10th ed.1998) (defining "send" as "to cause to be carried to a destination"). Because this is a plain reading of the statute, we do not rely on any legislative history cited by the parties. See Fla. Dep't of Revenue v. Fla. Mun. Power Agency, 789 So.2d 320, 324 (Fla.2001).
Appellant relies predominately on Reno, 521 U.S. at 875, 117 S.Ct. 2329 (declaring the Communications Decency Act of 1996 unconstitutional), and argues that the government's interest in protecting children "does not justify an unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to adults." "[T]he level of discourse reaching a mailbox simply cannot be limited to that which would be suitable for a sandbox." Id. (quoting Bolger v. Youngs Drug Prods., Corp., 463 U.S. 60, 74-75, 103 S.Ct. 2875, 77 L.Ed.2d 469 (1983)). The Court stated that it was an "incorrect factual premise that prohibiting a transmission whenever it is known that one of its recipients is a minor would not interfere with adult-to-adult communication." Id. at 876, 117 S.Ct. 2329. Given the size of potential audiences for most messages, the Court noted that under the Act, the "sender must be charged with knowing that one or more minors will likely view it," and thus communication among adults would be burdened. Id. "The Government agrees that these provisions are applicable whenever 'a sender transmits a message to more than one recipient, knowing that at least one of the specific persons receiving the message is a minor.' " Id. at 876 n. 42, 117 S.Ct. 2329.
We agree with the State that Florida's law differs from the federal law at issue in Reno because section 847.0138 only applies to electronic mail sent to a specific individual known to be a minor, not to a group that is "likely" to include a minor. Section 847.0138(l)(b) requires a transmission, which means sending "to a specific individual known by the defendant to be a minor via electronic mail." Significantly, the Communications Decency Act of 1996 at issue in Reno has no similar provision.
Adults may address communications directly to other adults, and to a large group, without violating section 847.0138. Only messages sent to a "specific individual known to be a minor" that are harmful to minors are prohibited. The Florida statute is more narrowly tailored than the Communications Decency Act at issue in Reno. The level of discourse reaching a mailbox may be limited to that which would be suitable for a sandbox if the mail is knowingly sent to a mailbox that is in the sandbox. That is what section 847.0138 does. See Rowan v. United States Post Office Dep't, 397 U.S. 728, 736-38, 90 S.Ct. 1484, 25 L.Ed.2d 736 (1970) (holding that a statute, prohibiting unwanted mail did not violate the First Amendment; "[w]eighing the highly important right to communicate, but without trying to determine where it fits into constitutional imperatives, against the very basic right to be free from sights, sounds, and tangible matter we do not want, it seems to us that a mailer's right to communicate must stop at the mailbox of an unreceptive addressee;" a householder should not "have to risk that offensive material come into the hands of his children before it can be stopped").
II.
We are not persuaded by appellant's argument that the statute is "im-permissibly vague" because the statute applies to minors without attempting to classify materials differently for older age groups. See People v. Hayne, 2002 WL 470853, at *5 (Cal.App. 5th Dist.2002)(rejecting the same argument that a statute is vague; "Appellant's argument that matter may be harmful to a five-year old but not to a 17 year old has no merit. It is within the Legislature's power to determine that certain matter is harmful for all minors. There is no indication that the definition of harmful matter will change depending on the age of the minor."). The Legislature has the responsibility and authority to protect all of our children, even the older ones. See Jones v. State, 640 So.2d 1084, 1085-87 (Fla.1994)(holding that Florida's statutory-rape provision is constitutional even though the teenage girls consented; rejecting the argument that minors' rights of privacy "vitiate the legislature's efforts and authority to protect minors from conduct of others"; the "State has the prerogative to safeguard its citizens, particularly children, from potential harm when such harm outweighs the interests of the individual"). Therefore, we decline to rule that additional statutory distinctions should be made for different age groups as held by the Third Circuit in ACLU v. Ashcroft, 322 F.3d 240 (3rd Cir.2003), aff'd and remanded, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2783, 159 L.Ed.2d 690 (2004).
In arguing that the statute is vague, appellant further cites Ashcroft, noting that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Child Online Protection Act is unconstitutional because the "harmful to minors" language is vague. Id. at 251-53. The "harmful material" is to be reviewed "as a whole," and the court ruled that because the Child Online Protection Act "mandates evaluation of an exhibit on the Internet in isolation, rather than in context" of the work as a whole, it is not narrowly tailored. Id. Because section 847.0138 is narrowly tailored by limiting the harmful material to those sent to minors by electronic mail, it is appropriate to evaluate the communication without considering the rest of the Internet. For example, if excerpts (that taken as a whole are harmful to minors) of a video posted on the Internet (that taken as a whole is not harmful to minors) are cut from the whole video and sent to a minor, then the transmission violates section 847.0138. The whole video posted on the Internet need not be reviewed in context because the restriction only applies to those transmissions to known minors by electronic mail, and the minor only received the excerpts, not the entire video. One who sends harmful materials by electronic mail to known minors cannot be shielded by taking materials out of context and sending only those materials without restriction because they are extracted from some larger work the minors have not seen. Accordingly, section 847.0138 is narrowly tailored and not vague.
III.
Appellant also challenges section 847.0138 as violating the dormant Commerce Clause, which we reject for the same reasons relating to section 847.0135 as addressed in Cashatt, and because a violator who is not in Florida must know or believe that he or she is transmitting harmful material to a Florida minor. See § 847.0138(3), Fla. Stat.
We do not agree with appellant's argument that section 847.0135 violates the Commerce Clause because it subjects interstate use of the Internet to inconsistent state regulation. Congress specifically provides for preemption of state law when it desires. For example, the Florida Supreme Court recently held, in Doe v. America Online, Inc., 783 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 2001), that the federal Communications Decency Act preempted Doe's cause of action against AOL for negligence per se in violating section 847.0135 by allowing Richard Lee Russell to lure her son, elev en years old, and two other minor males to engage in sexual activity with each other and Russell.
The Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2), restricts civil liability against providers or users of interactive computer services, which was the basis of the Court's ruling. The Act, however, further states that "[n]othing in this section shall be construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law that is consistent with this section. No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section." Doe, 783 So.2d at 1012 n. 4 (quoting 47 U.S.C. § 230(d)(3)).
Appellant makes no argument that section 847.0135 is contrary to any federal law or that federal law so thoroughly occupies the legislative field as to require a reasonable inference that Congress left no room for it to be supplemented by state law. See Safeharbor Employer Servs. I, Inc. v. Velazquez, 860 So.2d 984 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)(rejecting the federal law preemption argument because there was no express preemption language, no conflict between state and federal law, and the federal law did not thoroughly occupy the field of law).
Conclusion
Therefore, we reject appellant's facial constitutional challenges against sections 847.0135 and 847.0138, Florida Statutes.
AFFIRMED.
HAWKES, J. concurs; BROWNING, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part by Separate Opinion.
. Appellant's double jeopardy and subject matter jurisdiction arguments are not raised in this appeal.
. Minors have First Amendment rights to use the Internet for speech purposes. See McConnell v. Fed. Election Comm'n, 540 U.S. 93, 124 S.Ct. 619, 639, 157 L.Ed.2d 491 (2003) (Rehnquist, C J.) (recognizing that minors enjoy the protection of the First Amendment, citing Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 511-13, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969)). Thus, there are competing First Amendment interests at stake. These statutory restrictions protect the integrity of the Internet's accessibility for minors, enhancing their speech, but costs adults the ability to communicate harmful materials to minors. The United States Supreme Court, in McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 655-58 & n. 40 (Stevens, J. and O'Connor, J.), recently ruled that strict scrutiny does not apply to legislation aimed at preventing corruption because it protects the integrity of the process, benefit-ting public participation in political debate. Similarly, strict scrutiny may not apply in the instant case because, by eliminating the potential chilling effects of unchecked harm directed to minors on the Internet, section 847.0138 protects the integrity of the Internet and minors' use of it as a medium for free speech, thereby guarding minors' free speech rights. Therefore, free speech is increased, not decreased, and the content-based restriction on free speech requiring strict scrutiny does not apply. If political speech, a core First Amendment right, may be restricted without applying strict scrutiny, then speech that is harmful to minors should be subject to restriction without strict scrutiny. See McConnell, 124 S.Ct. at 720 (Scalia, J. concurring and dissenting) (disagreeing with the majority opinion for allowing restrictions on speech criticizing the government while it has "sternly disapproved of restrictions" on virtual child pornography). However, we need not decide this issue because we conclude that section 847.0138 is constitutional even if strict scrutiny applies.
. Contrary to the dissent, the State has not, in its briefs or oral argument, requested us to redefine the statute to "fix it" or conceded that the statute is not constitutional. Even had the State done so, we would ignore it as an erroneous concession. See Perry v. State, 808 So.2d 268 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002) (ruling that erroneous concessions by the state should not be accepted). The dissent states that the "statute could, and should, be further limited to one-on-one e-mail communications rather than just to 'electronic mail.' " This definition is too narrow as illustrated by the facts of this case. The legislature properly contemplated that electronic mail sent by instant messaging, as sent by the appellant, would be used and should be prohibited in addition to e-mail transmissions sent and read at different times. Moreover, why would it be permissible to limit one [adult]-on-one [minor] harmful transmissions but not one [adult]-on-twenty-five [minors]? Obviously, harmful transmissions sent to more than one minor are not somehow more constitutional. The statute does not need redefinition as the appellant and dissent suggests.
. There is no "heckler veto" as stated by the appellant and dissent because the statute only applies to communications specifically sent to known minors.
. Likewise, the Child Online Protection Act, at issue in ACLU v. Ashcroft, 322 F.3d 240 (3rd Cir.2003), aff'd and remanded, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2783, 159 L.Ed.2d 690 (2004), does not have a provision similar to section 847.0138. Therefore, the case is not applicable and the recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court does not substantively affect the analysis in this case.
. The United States Supreme Court's ruling did not address this issue.
. The dissent's concern over minors' access to Michelangelo's David and the like, and attempted distinction of Hayne, is a red herring because of the definition of "harmful to minors." See § 847.001(6)(c) (defining harmful materials to include "taken as whole, is without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors").