Title: State v. Stearns
Citation: 645 So. 2d 417
Docket Number: 82826
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: November 17, 1994

645 So. 2d 417 (1994)
STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Richard T. STEARNS, Jr., Respondent.
No. 82826.

Supreme Court of Florida.
November 17, 1994.
*418 Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Robin Compton Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for petitioner.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Lyle Hitchens, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for respondent.
HARDING, Justice.
We have for review Stearns v. State, 626 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993), where the district court certified this question as one of great public importance:
We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution.
Stearns was convicted of burglary of a structure while armed, grand theft, and carrying a concealed weapon while committing a felony, to wit: grand theft. Stearns' burglary sentence was enhanced because of his possession of a firearm. The district court reversed his conviction and sentence for carrying a concealed weapon because:
Stearns, 626 So. 2d  at 255 (citations omitted).
We agree with the district court that armed burglary is a continuing offense. Thus, our recent decision in State v. Brown, 633 So. 2d 1059 (Fla. 1994), resolves the case now before us. In Brown we held that a defendant could not be convicted and sentenced for two crimes involving a firearm that arose out of the same criminal episode. Id. at 1060-61. In the instant case, therefore, double jeopardy bars the State from convicting and sentencing Stearns for two offenses involving a firearm that arose out of the same criminal episode.
Accordingly, we answer the certified question in the negative and approve the district court's decision reversing Stearns' conviction and sentence for carrying a concealed weapon while committing a felony.
It is so ordered.
GRIMES, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, KOGAN, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.