Case Name: Charles Thomas CAMPBELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1976-03-31
Citations: 331 So. 2d 289
Docket Number: No. 46530
Parties: Charles Thomas CAMPBELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: OVERTON, C. J., and ADKINS and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 331
Pages: 289–293

Head Matter:
Charles Thomas CAMPBELL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 46530.
Supreme Court of Florida.
March 31, 1976.
Rehearing Denied May 25, 1976.
Leo A. Thomas, Levin, Warfield, Mid-dlebrooks, Graff, Mabie, Rosenbloum and Magie, Pensacola, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and Raymond L. Marky, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Opinion:
SUNDBERG, Justice.
This cause is before us on appeal from the Escambia County Court. In its order denying appellant's motion to dismiss and granting his motion for a bill of particulars, the trial court declared that Section 798.02, Florida Statutes, is constitutional. Subsequently, a jury having found appellant to be guilty of engaging in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, the court sentenced him to pay a fine in the amount of $350. This Court has jurisdiction under Article V, Section 3(b) (1), Florida Constitution.
On the weekend of July 4, 1974, there was a homosexual conclave in Pensacola, Florida. Local police officers were made aware of this event and visited bars and lounges frequented by Pensacola area homosexuals. Among these establishments was Robbie's YumYum Tree Lounge, where appellant was employed as a waiter. At approximately 2:00 a. m. on July 6, 1974, two of four undercover agents who had been in the YumYum Tree for some two hours saw appellant fondle one Jeffries, a patron; both Campbell and Jeffries were arrested for violating Section 798.02, Florida Statutes.
At trial, there was evidence that appellant fondled the fully-clothed Jeffries in the pubic area for some five seconds with his right hand while holding aloft a tray full of glasses with his left hand. After presentation of the State's evidence, the trial court dismissed the charges against Jeffries. Testifying in his own defense, appellant denied that such an event had ever occurred. The jury returned a verdict of guilty but had its foreman write the words "with leniency" on the verdict form.
On appeal, Campbell alleges that Section 798.02, Florida Statutes, supra, is unconstitutionally vague and was applied to him in an unconstitutional manner. Finding as we do that the conviction cannot stand because the conduct proven does not constitute a crime under that statute, it is not necessary to reach the issue of constitutionality.
There have been only three reported appellate opinions construing the second clause of Section 798.02, Florida Statutes, (proscribing "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior"), which provides the basis for the charges against this appellant. In Coile v. State, 212 So.2d 94 (Fla.App.3rd 1968), defendant was charged with the violation of Section 800.04, Florida Statutes, (lewd, lascivious, or indecent assault or act upon or in the presence of a child), and the trial court reduced the charge to a violation of the second clause of Section 798.02, supra. Coile involved offensive touching of a member of a Girl Scout troop on a holiday outing. A conviction under this clause was reversed in Kittleson v. State, 152 Fla. 242, 9 So.2d 807 (1942), for failure of the State to charge an offense under the statute. There, the State attemped to supply allegations necessary to the information through a bill of particulars which was neither sworn to nor verified. In Pitchford v. State, 65 Fla. 146, 61 So. 243 (1931), a white married man and a single black woman were observed by a deputy sheriff to be sitting on the edge of a bed, both in a state of semi-dress. In reversing the conviction, this Court observed that the behavior "denounced by the statute must be such conduct as would bring upon a husband and wife the penalty of the statute extremely indecent, immoral and offensive." (Emphasis supplied.)
Pursuant to the dictates of Pitchford, supra, the trial judge charged the jury in the instant case:
"You are further advised that open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior must be extremely indecent, immoral, and offensive in order to come within the provisions of the statute upon which it is alleged that the Defendant violated." (Emphasis supplied.)
Given the prior construction of the instant statute, the evidence in the record does not substantiate behavior which was "extremely indecent, immoral, and offensive". The term "indecent" is difficult enough of precise definition, but the term "extremely indecent" must certainly refer to an act more outrageous than that perpetrated by the appellant. Additionally, who in the dark and crowded recesses of the YumYum Tree at 2:00 a. m. on July 6, 1974, was "offended"? This is not to say that such establishments provide sanctuary from enforcement of our criminal laws. Our holding today is that there must be more to constitute "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior" than this record discloses and that a jury of reasonable persons could not reasonably have concluded that appellant's conduct at the time and place and under the circumstances it occurred constituted a violation of Section 798.02, Florida Statutes.
The judgment will be reversed.
OVERTON, C. J., and ADKINS and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
ENGLAND, J., concurs with an opinion.
BOYD, J., dissents with an opinion.
ROBERTS, J., dissents and concurs with BOYD, J.
. "798.02 Lewd and lascivious behavior.—-If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or if any man or woman, married or unmarried, engages in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082 or § 775.083."