Case Name: Anthony CLARK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-02-04
Citations: 779 So. 2d 343
Docket Number: No. 2D98-4287
Parties: Anthony CLARK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: CASANUEVA, J., Concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 779
Pages: 343–345

Head Matter:
Anthony CLARK, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 2D98-4287.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
Feb. 4, 2000.
Richard T. McKendrick, Lakeland, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Robert Napolitano, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

Opinion:
GREEN, Judge.
Anthony Clark timely appeals his sentence as a prison releasee reoffender to five years of imprisonment. We affirm.
While in the Hardee County jail, approximately three months after being released from a Florida state prison, Clark was charged with and found guilty of resisting an officer with violence. Since resisting an officer with violence is a felony that involves the use or threat of physical force or violence, the offense is a qualifying offense under the prison releasee reoffender statute. See § 775.082(8)(a)1.o., Fla. Stat. (1997).
Clark argues that, because he was incarcerated in county jail at the time the offense occurred, he cannot be considered a releasee. We disagree. There is no restriction in the language of the statute concerning a person's confinement status when a qualifying crime is committed. See § 775.082(8)(a)l, Fla. Stat. (1997). The term releasee only has reference to a defendant's having been "released from a state correctional facility" within the specified period of three years, not whether the defendant is currently incarcerated. § 775.082(8)(a)l., Fla. Stat. (1997). We, therefore, hold that Clark's new offense of resisting an officer with violence, committed while he was incarcerated and within three years of being released from Florida State Prison, is a qualifying offense under the prison releasee reoffender statute.
Next, Clark contends that his sentence imposed pursuant to the prison releasee reoffender statute, section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997), must be reversed because the statute is unconstitutional. Recently, this court addressed all the constitutional challenges which Clark has raised and found the statute constitutional. See Grant v. State, 745 So.2d 519, 24 Fla. L. Weekly D2627 (Fla. 2d DCA Nov.24, 1999).
Affirmed.
CASANUEVA, J., Concurs.
ALTENBERND, A.C.J., Concurs specially.