Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald RIFE, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1999-03-19
Citations: 733 So. 2d 541
Docket Number: No. 98-38
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald RIFE, Appellee.
Judges: W. SHARP, GOSHORN and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 733
Pages: 541–551

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Ronald RIFE, Appellee.
No. 98-38.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
March 19, 1999.
Order Granting Motion to Certify Question May 28, 1999.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Ann M. Phillips, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Kenneth Witts, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Opinion:
EN BANC
HARRIS, J.
In order to recede from our holding in State v. Smith, 668 So.2d 639 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), we have elected to consider this case en banc.
The State appeals the downward departure sentence imposed in this case. We affirm. Rife was convicted of three counts of sexual battery on a minor by a person in custodial authority. Rife admits having sex with the seventeen-year-old victim on numerous occasions but contends, and the victim agrees, that the sexual activities were consensual. Further, it appears that the sexual activities with this minor, who moved in with appellant because she had no other place to reside, began before the victim requested, and appellant agreed, that appellant become her guardian. The trial court departed downward finding:
But I'm basing the downward departure based on statutory grounds that the victim, although she was a minor, was a willing participant in this incident. She apparently agreed to it and was in love with you, and at least thought she was in love with you, and fully participated in this incident.
She doesn't have the obligation or the responsibility as a minor to tell you no. Consent is not an issue on the charge. But I am taking that into consideration for the purpose of the downward departure.
Thus, the issue squarely facing us is whether the willing -participation of a seventeen-year-old young woman in a statutorily prohibited sexual relationship, although not a defense to the crime, can be considered by the judge in determining the appropriate sentence. We agree that section 921.0026, Florida Statutes, gives the trial judge the discretion to mitigate under appropriate circumstances, that the circumstances found by the trial court to exist herein are supported by the record and are appropriate, and affirm recognizing our contrary holding in State v. Smith at page 644:
Given this policy [the obligation of the State to protect its young from "sexual activity and exploitation" as explained in Jones v. State, 640 So.2d 1084 (Fla.1994) ] it is inconceivable that the key feature of this criminal statute, i.e. irrelevancy of the child's consent to sex, would nevertheless be a basis to disregard the statutorily prescribed penalty for its commission.
The difficulty with this position, and the position taken by Judge Thompson in his dissent, is that it confuses the legislative policy relating to the commission of the crime and its policy relating to sentencing for that crime. There is no question that a minor can consent. The legislature recognizes this but has decided that such consent shall not be a defense to the crime. But at the same time, it has provided that even though consent is not a defense, it may be considered by the court in determining an appropriate sentence.
We find that a logic which holds that because consent may not be a defense, it cannot be a mitigator does not compute. A does not equal B nor is something true of A necessarily true of B. Defenses to a criminal charge and factors to be considered in mitigation are apples and oranges. Indeed, if consent were a defense to this criminal charge, there would be no need to mitigate in this instance. Although remorse is never a defense to a criminal charge, the legislature has made it a mitigating factor to be considered by the judge. Likewise, the legislature has made the willing participation of the victim a mitigating factor. And the legislature did not limit the applicability of this factor, as does the dissent, to only those victims "of age."
Even though we find that the court has the authority to mitigate based on the willing participation of a minor victim, did the court err in this case by doing so? Even if the court finds that a mitigating factor exists, it is still within the judge's discretion whether the guideline sentence should be reduced. Section 921.002(3), Florida Statutes, provides: "A court may impose a departure below the permissible sentencing range based upon circumstances or factors that reasonably justify the mitigating of the sentence in accordance with s. 921.0026." Thus, when we are asked to review a downward departure, there are two questions that we must consider. First, is there record support that the mitigating factor is actually present? Second, even if the mitigating factor is present, did the judge abuse his or her discretion in departing downward?
In this case, there is ample support that in fact the young woman willingly participated in this sexual endeavor. Hence, the record supports the presence of this mitigating factor. Because of the sordid testimony more particularly described in the dissent, perhaps the closer question is whether the court abused its discretion in mitigating even though the mitigating factor is present. The jury, being instructed to ignore the minor's consent, convicted him of the offenses. Sentencing, however, is a different matter and involves the judge's view of the evidence as it relates to mitigation. It is clear that the judge did not believe the young woman so immature that she could not agree to the encounter or that she was incapable of loving the defendant. The judge saw the minor, heard her testify and observed her demeanor, and was free to determine for herself the maturity (emotional and otherwise) of the young woman. We are not in that position. Further, insofar as it involves sentencing, the court was free to believe such witnesses and such testimony, or portion thereof, that she found credible. She might not have believed all of the "facts" set out in Judge Thompson's dissent.
It is important to note that this is not a case in which the judge trivialized the offense by a slap on the wrist. The defendant was sentenced to eight and one-half years in prison to be followed by ten years probation. The judge took this case seriously. She merely realized that had the victim not willingly participated, the offense would have been much more serious and a greater sentence would be justified. In order to recognize this difference, the judge believed that a substantial, but somewhat less than guideline, sentence would be appropriate in this case. The legislature permitted her to do so.
Compare this case with State v. Smith. We agree with the result of Smith, not because the court lacked the authority to downward depart, but because we do not believe that the act of a thirteen-year-old girl who gave in to the urging of the defendant (because of her infatuation with the defendant) to have unwanted sexual relations with others constituted "willing participation." The fact that she permitted, upon the urging of her "boyfriend," that an act that she considered most loathsome be committed on her by others is not the kind of willing participation envisioned by the legislature. Nor is it the kind of willing participation involved in this case.
Quite clearly, a young woman does not become "mature" on her eighteenth birthday. Maturity is an evolving process. The court must consider the age and maturity of the victim when considering the willingness of her action and the consequence of that willingness. That is not to say that a young victim cannot willingly participate (suppose two children of about the same age "play doctor"); but it does mean that a court must consider the circumstances even more carefully depending on the victim's age.
We also agree with the result reached in State v. Johns, 576 So.2d 1332 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). We are not convinced that the record supports the trial court's finding that the fifteen-year-old prostitute willingly participated in sex with the police officer defendant. The young girl's participation was more in the nature of a recognized "cost of doing business" than a consensual sex act. Not resisting is not the same as willingly participating. Wouldn't it have been different had the same fifteen-year-old girl had a sexual relationship with an older neighbor after he had taken her to dinner and a movie? But even in that case, the younger and less mature the victim, the less likelihood of a finding that even willing participation is sufficient for mitigating. Here, the judge was dealing with a physically mature young woman whom she believed had the capacity to and did willingly participate in the sexual relationship involved herein because of her love for the defendant. Even though as trial judges we might have sentenced differently, we do not believe that the trial judge herein abused her discretion.
We now adopt as the law of the case our dictum in State v. Johns:
Although the victim's consent and lack of chastity are not defenses to the defendant's crime, no statute says that these factors cannot be considered by a trial judge in imposing a downward sentence. Such facts may, in proper circumstances, be taken into consideration in imposing a downward departure.
And we agree with the point made in Judge Hall's dissent in State v. Sorakrai 543 So.2d 294, 296 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989): "It may be that, under the law of Florida, such facts (the fact that the defendant believed the victim to be of lawful age) are more appropriate as mitigating factors for consideration at the sentencing phase."
AFFIRMED.
W. SHARP, GOSHORN and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
COBB, J., concurs and concurs specially, with opinion, in which GOSHORN, J., concurs.
GRIFFIN, C.J., dissents, with opinion.
DAUKSCH, J., dissents with opinion, in which ANTOON, J., concurs.
THOMPSON, J., dissents, with opinion in which GRIFFIN, C.J., concurs.
. This position was also adopted by State v. Whiting, 711 So.2d 1212 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998).
. Unless the legislature acts in an unconstitutional manner, courts must permit the legislature to legislate. And unless the legislation is vague, the courts must apply the law as enacted by the legislature. Judge Thompson holds that there can be no mitigation of sentence under section 794.01 l(8)(b), Florida Statutes, because to do so would subvert the State's public policy of protecting minors. All criminal statutes are intended to further some public policy. The legislature is quite capable of enacting minimum and mandatory sentences. Had it intended no mitigation under this statute, the legislature could easily have said so. It did not and this court should not.