Case Name: Gregory PAUL, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1980-07-03
Citations: 385 So. 2d 1371
Docket Number: No. 56140
Parties: Gregory PAUL, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Judges: SUNDBERG, C. J., and BOYD, OVER-TON and McDONALD, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 385
Pages: 1371–1372

Head Matter:
Gregory PAUL, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. 56140.
Supreme Court of Florida.
July 3, 1980.
Louis G. Carres, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Richard W. Prospect and Doris E. Jenkins, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.

Opinion:
ENGLAND, Justice.
We here review a decision of the First District Court of Appeal construing Rule 3.151 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs the consolidation of related offenses. The district court upheld the trial court's order allowing the pretrial consolidation of three alleged sexual offenses, the first of which occurred approximately one month before the others. Paul seeks review of that decision on the ground that the alleged offenses, though similar in nature, were not "related" within the contemplation of Rule 3.151 and the relevant case law.
In effect, the district court's interpretation of Rule 3.151 permits the consolidation of similar offenses which are unrelated in terms of time or sequence. We reverse, and adopt as our opinion Judge Smith's well reasoned dissent in the case below insofar as it relates to Rule 3.151 and the consolidation of related offenses. We make no comment on that portion of Judge Smith's dissent which discusses the so-called " Williams Rule" Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.1959) of admissibility.
The decision of the First District Court of Appeal is quashed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
SUNDBERG, C. J., and BOYD, OVER-TON and McDONALD, JJ., concur.
ADKINS, J., dissents.
ALDERMAN, J., dissents with an opin-' ion.
. Paul v. State, 365 So.2d 1063 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979).
. See id. at 1066.