Case Name: STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. James Benny YOUNG, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1979-05-10
Citations: 371 So. 2d 1029
Docket Number: No. 53829
Parties: STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. James Benny YOUNG, Respondent.
Judges: ENGLAND, C. J., and ADKINS and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 371
Pages: 1029–1031

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. James Benny YOUNG, Respondent.
No. 53829.
Supreme Court of Florida.
May 10, 1979.
Rehearing Denied July 9, 1979.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for petitioner.
M. David Alexander, III, of Boswell, Boswell, Conner & Alexander, Bartow, for respondent.

Opinion:
ALDERMAN, Justice.
The District Court of Appeal, Second District, has certified to us its decision in State v. Young, 357 So.2d 416 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), as passing upon a question of great public interest.
The question presented is whether the vehicular homicide statute, section 782.-071, Florida Statutes (1975), is the only statute under which a person who negligently causes the death of another by operation of a motor vehicle may be prosecuted or whether that person may be charged with violation of the manslaughter statute, section 782.07, Florida Statutes (1975). This issue turns on whether the legislature, in promulgating the vehicular homicide statute, intended and did create a lesser included offense to manslaughter with a lesser standard of proof required for conviction. We find that the legislature did create a separate offense for vehicular homicide with a lesser standard of proof than is required for conviction under the manslaughter statute and that, therefore, the State may properly charge a defendant under the manslaughter statute for operating a motor vehicle in a culpably negligent manner which causes the death of a human being.
The defendant in the present case was charged with manslaughter in that by his own act, procurement, and culpable negligence and without lawful justification he killed another human being while operating his tractor-trailer in such a manner as to cause it to collide with the victim's automobile. The trial court dismissed the information for the crime of manslaughter with leave to the State to file another information alleging a violation of section 782.071. The district court agreed with the trial court that the State was required to proceed under the vehicular homicide statute and explained that, although the manslaughter statute has been construed to include negligent operation of an automobile resulting in death, the subsequently enacted vehicular homicide statute deals specifically with deaths resulting from negligent operation of automobiles. The district court rejected the argument that vehicular homicide is a lesser included offense of manslaughter with a lesser standard of proof and held that the standard of proof under the manslaughter statute was carried over into the vehicular homicide statute. For the reasons stated in our opinion in McCreary v. State, 371 So.2d 1024 (Fla. 1979), we conclude that vehicular homicide is a lesser included offense of manslaughter resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle, with a lower standard of proof. We, therefore, hold that in a prosecution for homicide arising out of the negligent operation of a motor vehicle, the State may elect to charge the defendant under the manslaughter statute. Accordingly, we quash the decision of the district court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
ENGLAND, C. J., and ADKINS and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
BOYD, J., dissents with an opinion with which OVERTON and SUNDBERG, JJ., concur.
. Section 782.071, Fla.Stat. (1975), provides: "Vehicular homicide" is the killing of a human being by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another. Vehicular homicide is a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082, § 775.083, or § 775.084.
. Section 782.07, Fia.Stat. (1975), provides:
The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification according to the provisions of chapter 776 and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder, according to the provisions of this chapter, shall be deemed manslaughter and shall constitute a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in § 775.082, § 775.083, or § 775.084.