SC95776 State of Florida v R D P Jr

State: Florida

Docket No: sc95776

Case Date: 01/06/2000

Plaintiff: SC95776 State of Florida

Defendant: R D P Jr

Preview:Supreme Court of Florida
No. SC95776
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellant,
vs.
R.D.P., Jr.,
Appellee.
[January 6, 2000]
PARIENTE, J.
We have on appeal R.D.P. v. State, 735 So. 2d 551 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999), a
decision of the district court declaring invalid section 874.074, Florida Statutes
(Supp. 1996).   We have jurisdiction.   See art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
Section 874.04 allows trial courts to enhance the degree of crime under which
the defendant is charged on the basis of the defendant's membership in a criminal
street gang.   In State v. O.C., 24 Fla. L. Weekly S425 (Fla. Sept. 16, 1999), we
recently concluded that this statute unconstitutionally violates substantive due

process.   We therefore affirm the decision of the district court in this case.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and SHAW, WELLS, ANSTEAD, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ.,
concur.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION, AND IF
FILED, DETERMINED.
An Appeal from the District Court of Appeal - Statutory or Constitutional Invalidity
Second District - Case No. 2D97-00720
(Polk County)
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Robert J. Krauss, Senior Assistant Attorney
General, Chief of Criminal Law, and Susan D. Dunlevy, Assistant Attorney General,
Tampa, Florida,
for Appellant
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and A. Victoria Wiggins, Assistant Public
Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, Florida,
for Appellee
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