Case Name: STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Frederick K. JONES, Respondent
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1986-05-15
Citations: 488 So. 2d 527
Docket Number: No. 67084
Parties: STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Frederick K. JONES, Respondent.
Judges: ADKINS, OVERTON and McDONALD, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 488
Pages: 527–529

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Frederick K. JONES, Respondent.
No. 67084.
Supreme Court of Florida.
May 15, 1986.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Andrea Smith Hillyer and Norma J. Mungenast, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Michael E. Allen, Public Defender and Carl S. McGinnes, Asst. Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for respondent.

Opinion:
BARKETT, Justice.
This cause is before the Court on petition to review the decision in State v. Jones, 467 So.2d 1083 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). We have jurisdiction to consider the questions certified therein pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution.
The circuit court discharged an affidavit of a violation of probation filed by a probation officer against the defendant. The district court dismissed the state's subsequent appeal in the action, but certified the following as questions of great public importance:
Are the provisions of Article V, Section 4(b)(1) of the Florida Constitution (1980) self-executing so as to afford the state the right to appeal from a final judgment in a criminal case the same as any other party litigant except where an appeal would be futile under applicable principles of double jeopardy?
If the answer to the first question is in the negative, may the district court of appeal utilize the common law writ of certiorari to review the final judgment assuming the elements of the writ are satisfied?
Id. at 1084.
We have already answered both questions in the negative. State v. Creighton, 469 So.2d 735 (Fla.1985); D.A.E. v. State, 478 So.2d 815 (Fla.1985); State v. C.C., 476 So.2d 144 (Fla.1985); State v. G.P., 476 So.2d 1272 (Fla.1985). We decline the state's invitation to recede from these cases and from our adherence to the general principle that statutes which afford the government the right to appeal in criminal cases should be construed narrowly. See generally Carroll v. United States, 354 U.S. 394, 400, 77 S.Ct. 1332, 1336, 1 L.Ed.2d 1442 (1957).
Accordingly, we reject petitioner's argument that a discharge of an affidavit of a violation of probation should be construed as equivalent to dismissing an information or indictment, thereby bringing such an appeal within the ambit of section 924.07, Florida Statutes.
The district court properly dismissed the state's appeal, and we approve the decision below.
It is so ordered.
ADKINS, OVERTON and McDONALD, JJ., concur.
BOYD, C.J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, in which EHRLICH and SHAW, JJ., concur.