5D03-684 Courtney Turner v. State

State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D03-684

Case Date: 10/25/2004

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA JULY TERM 2004 FIFTH DISTRICT

COURTNEY LEE TURNER, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ______________________________/ Opinion filed October 27, 2004 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, John M. Griesbaum, Judge. Joseph N. D'Achille, Jr., of Joseph N. D'Achille, P.A., Titusville, for Appellant. Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Ann M. Phillips, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. CASE NO. 5D03-684

PETERSON, J. Courtney Lee Turner appeals an order designating him a sexual predator under section 775.21, Florida Statutes (2002), Florida's Sexual Predator Act ("Act"). Turner challenges the constitutionality of the Act and asserts that his substantive due process rights were violated. Because this issue is raised for the first time on appeal, we affirm the trial court's order. Turner posed as a police officer and threatened alleged prostitutes over the age of 18 with arrest in order to gain sexual favors. He was arrested on multiple occasions and charged

inter alia with sexual battery and kidnaping.1 As a part of a plea agreement reached with the State, Turner pled nolo contendere in four cases and agreed to a sentence of ten years' incarceration followed by forty-five years of sex-offender probation. The agreement, initialed by Turner, contained a provision that required him to fully cooperate with authorized officials to fulfill any registration or identification procedures required by law. The State subsequently filed a notice in each of the four cases informing the court that pursuant to section 775.21(4), Turner qualified as a sexual predator. Further, prior to accepting the plea agreement, the court advised Turner that in all likelihood he would be declared a sexual predator. The court subsequently entered orders in each case declaring that Turner was a sexual predator. For the first time on appeal, Turner challenges this designation and asserts that the court's finding violates his substantive due process rights. In the absence of fundamental error, an appellate court will not consider constitutional issues that have been raised for the first time on appeal. See Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 1970); see generally, Philip J. Padovano, Florida Appellate Practice,

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