Case Name: Adrian MULKEY, Petitioner, v. E. Wilson PURDY, as Sheriff and Director of the Public Safety Department of Dade County, Florida, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1970-04-08
Citations: 234 So. 2d 108
Docket Number: No. 39241
Parties: Adrian MULKEY, Petitioner, v. E. Wilson PURDY, as Sheriff and Director of the Public Safety Department of Dade County, Florida, Respondent.
Judges: Ervin, C. J., dissented.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 234
Pages: 108–113

Head Matter:
Adrian MULKEY, Petitioner, v. E. Wilson PURDY, as Sheriff and Director of the Public Safety Department of Dade County, Florida, Respondent.
No. 39241.
Supreme Court of Florida.
April 8, 1970.
Ervin, C. J., dissented.
Ralph H. Bearden, Jr., Miami, for petitioner.
Thomas C. Britton, County Atty., and Joseph D. Komansky, Asst. County Atty., for respondent.

Opinion:
ROBERTS, Justice.
This cause is before the court on petition for certiorari to review the decision of the District Court of Appeal, Third District, in Purdy v. Mulkey, Fla.App., 228 So.2d 132. The question of law presented has been certified by the appellate court as being one of great public interest under Section 4(2), Article V, Constitution of Florida, F.S.A. In its certificate the District Court stated that the case, •" 'passes upon a question of great public interest' regarding the right of sheriffs to retain fingerprint and photograph records made under § 30.31, Fla.Stat., of persons charged with or convicted of misdemeanors, against a claim of one such who was placed on and served probation, to have the records expunged, in the absence of legislation directing or authorizing the expunging thereof in such circumstance."
The facts are stated in the opinion of the appellate court and need not be repeated here in detail. Briefly, the case concerned the arrest in 1959 of petitioner-Mulkey who was informed against and charged with the crime of attempt to commit petit larceny, a misdemeanor. Upon arrest he was fingerprinted and photographed by the Sheriff and copies of the fingerprints were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation under authority of § 30.31, Fla.Stat., F.S.A., then effective: "(1) It is hereby made the duty of the sheriffs of the state, when in their opinion it is necessary for the protection of the public, to fingerprint all persons charged with or convicted of any criminal offense. (2) The sheriffs of the respective counties are hereby required to furnish a copy of all fingerprints made by them to the federal bufeau of investigation." Mulkey pleaded guilty when arraigned and the court entered an order withholding adjudication of guilt and placed him on probation. Eight years after discharge, upon motion for summary judgment by both petitioner-Mulkey and respondent-Sheriff Purdy, the Circuit Court granted judgment in favor of Mulkey ordering the Sheriff to expunge and destroy all records relating to petitioner's criminal case which were in his possession or control including fingerprints and photographs, and to obtain the return of copies thereof which had been sent to the FBI and to destroy them. The file was ordered sealed.
Upon appeal, the District Court reversed, holding that the Sheriff had express statutory authority to fingerprint and photograph petitioner, the unrefuted presumption being that the public official properly performed his duties and "that if the sheriff who acted in 1959 had been of the opinion that there was no public necessity to take the fingerprints, it is unlikely that they would have been taken." It also noted that respondent-Sheriff "by opposing the petition in the trial court and taking this appeal from the judgment granting the petition to expunge has demonstrated his opinion that it is in the public interest for the fingerprint records so taken to be retained." The appellate court further held that a court may not order records made under the common law or, a fortiori, under legislative authority, expunged or destroyed, even when the accused has been acquitted or the charge dismissed, in the absence of statutory authority or strong overriding equitable considerations. We agree.
The contention that § 948.01 Fla. Stat. F.S.A. — When courts may place defendant on probation — logically requires the elimination of all records of the case when the court withholds an adjudication of guilt and places a defendant on probation after a defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty to an offense, is without merit. Both § 30.31 and § 948.01, Fla.Stat. had legislative attention by amendment in 1967. Had § 948.01, amended effective June 19, 1967, been intended as an extension or curtailment of § 30.31 the latter statute would have reflected the intent when it was amended ef-fecitve October 1, 1967. Sec. 30.31 clearly requires the fingerprinting of all persons charged with or convicted of a felony and it further places the discretionary duty on the sheriffs of the state to fingerprint all persons charged with or convicted of any criminal offense, which of course includes misdemeanors, when in the opinion of the sheriff it is necessary for the protection of the public. Petitioner can rely on no statute in his attempt to expunge the record and even though he alleges that he was only 17 at the time of the offense he was an "adult" insofar as responsibility for crime is concerned under Chapt. 39,- Juvenile Courts, which provides more lenient treatment for a "child" under 17. Moreover § 39.12, which was amended in 1967 (effective July 1, 1967), provides for the destruction of records of those under 17 but imposes restrictions, to wit: "(2) The juvenile court shall make and keep records pertaining to a child until ten (10) years after the last entry was made and may then destroy them, except that records of cases where orders were entered permanently depriving a parent of the custody of a child shall be preserved permanently." (Emphasis supplied.) There is no statute on the subject of return or destruction of photographs or fingerprints of adults who have been accused of crime regardless of the determination of the charges. Whether such a statute should be enacted is a matter residing principally within the legislative domain where the lawmakers would carefully consider the magnitude of the task of returning fingerprints and photographs, classification according to the offense, type of demand by the offender, and other problems attendant requiring the particularity of a statute. Cf. Sterling v. City of Oakland (1962), 208 Cal.App.2d 1, 24 Cal. Rptr. 696. We pause to note and agree with a statement of a New York court when considering a petition by a group of students to have their arrests expunged from the record when charges against them were dropped, "To allow the precedent would constitute a gross disregard of orderly procedures in legally constituted forums by duly provided methods. The commands of a government of laws require that this court confine its acts within the scope of judicial power recognizing the co-equal powers of the other branches of the government." Statman v. Kelly, (1965), 47 Misc.2d 294, 262 N.Y.S.2d 799. Our retention of judicial review in cases of "overriding equitable considerations" is to provide a remedy in a rare case where it is undeniable that the Sheriff abused his statutory discretion in making fingerprints.
The decision of the appellate codrt here reviewed having properly reversed the decree of the lower court, the writ hereto-for issued in this cause should be and it is hereby discharged.
It is so ordered.
DREW, THORNAL and ADKINS, JJ. concur.
ERVIN, C. J., dissents with opinion.
§ 30.31 Fla.Stat., F.S.A., as amended 1969. "(1) It is the duty of the sheriffs of the state to fingerprint all persons hereafter charged with or convicted of a felony upon so being charged or convicted and to submit such prints to the federal bureau of investigation and the Florida bureau of law enforcement. The sheriffs of the state may fingerprint all persons charged with or convicted of any criminal offense when in their opinion it is necessary for the protection of the public."