Opinion ID: 1702151
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Applying Fiore and Klayman to Bunkley's case

Text: In this case, the majority's determination that the issue decided in L.B. was a jury question at the time of Bunkley's trial, and therefore that L.B. was a nonretroactive change in the law rather than a clarification, is contrary to Fiore and inconsistent with Klayman. I agree with Justice Wells that the inconsistency cannot be justified by any distinction between statutes that cede discretion to the courts and those that employ precise language. See concurring op. at 54. L.B., which construed the common pocketknife exception to the definition of deadly weapon, is no less a clarification of the law than Hayes. However, as previously stated, unlike Justice Wells, I cannot conclude that district court decisions before L.B. created the law of the state that made L.B. a change in the law and render Fiore, and hence Klayman, inapplicable to convictions that were final when L.B. was issued. Extending Fiore to this case would not have a profoundly detrimental effect on our criminal justice system, as Justice Wells suggests. Quite the opposite. Our citizens expect that a defendant should not be incarcerated for conduct that the law does not prohibit. Further, there are critical limitations to the application of Fiore. Fiore applies strictly to first-time statutory clarifications by a state's highest court. In comparison, under Witt v. State, 387 So.2d 922 (Fla.1980), a decision overruling or receding from our prior precedent can be held to apply retroactively to final convictions. Additionally, Fiore applies only to those first-time clarifications that interpret a statutory offense under which the State has been allowed to convict a person of a crime without proving the elements of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt. 531 U.S. at 229, 121 S.Ct. 712. Because of its narrow criteria, I believe that relatively few district court decisions will be overturned pursuant to the stringent standards of Fiore. Moreover, any impact on finality of decisions caused by Fiore is minimal in contrast to the significant due process concerns of incarcerating an individual for conduct that was in fact never criminal under the statute as properly clarified. Regarding the concern that trial courts will be unduly burdened, granting relief in this case would not compel a retrial. Bunkley's conviction would be reduced to simple burglary and his sentence adjusted accordingly, akin to the discharge for possession of a weapon on school grounds ordered in L.B. As this Court has stated in applying the Witt test of retroactivity, [i]n the limited number of decisions that are retroactively applied, we have determined that concerns for basic fairness and uniformity of treatment among similarly situated defendants outweigh any adverse impact that retroactive application of the rule might have on decisional finality. Dixon v. State, 730 So.2d 265, 267 (Fla.1999). The same considerations apply to decisions meeting the narrow criteria of Fiore.