House Bill 3285c1

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998             CS/HB 3285

        By the Committee on Crime & Punishment and Representatives
    Clemons, Heyman, Crow, Burroughs, Wiles, Crist and Fasano





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to adjudication of guilt;

  3         creating s. 775.0844, F.S.; prohibiting the

  4         withholding of adjudication for certain

  5         defendants accused of committing a felony or

  6         qualified offense; providing exceptions;

  7         providing conditions for applicability;

  8         providing definitions; repealing Rule 3.670,

  9         Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, relating

10         to rendition of judgment, to the extent of

11         inconsistency with the act; providing an

12         effective date.

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14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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16         Section 1.  Section 775.0844, Florida Statutes, is

17  created to read:

18         775.0844  Prohibition on withholding adjudication.--

19         (1)  Adjudication of guilt for a person accused of a

20  felony shall not be withheld if the defendant has previously

21  been convicted of, or entered a plea of nolo contendere or

22  guilty to, a felony or a qualified offense, unless the

23  conviction of each prior felony or qualified offense has been

24  set aside or the defendant has received a pardon for each

25  felony or qualified offense for which the conviction has not

26  been set aside.  The provisions of this section apply only if:

27         (a)  The previous offense was or would have been a

28  violation of the same chapter of Florida Statutes as the

29  current offense;

30         (b)  The previous offense did not arise from the same

31  transaction as the current offense; and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1998             CS/HB 3285

    189-835-98






  1         (c)  The previous offense was sentenced separately from

  2  the current offense.

  3         (2)  For the purpose of this section, the term:

  4         (a)  "Convicted" means that the defendant was

  5  determined to be guilty as the result of a plea or trial,

  6  regardless of whether adjudication was withheld.

  7         (b)  "Qualified offense" means any offense,

  8  substantially similar in elements and penalties to an offense

  9  in this state, which is in violation of a law of any other

10  jurisdiction, whether that of another state, the District of

11  Columbia, the United States or any possession or territory

12  thereof, or any foreign jurisdiction, that was punishable

13  under the law of such jurisdiction at the time of the

14  commission by the defendant by death or imprisonment exceeding

15  1 year.

16         Section 2.  Rule 3.670, Florida Rules of Criminal

17  Procedure, is hereby repealed to the extent that it is

18  inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

19         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1 of the

20  year in which enacted, except that section 2 shall take effect

21  only if this act is passed by an affirmative vote of

22  two-thirds of the membership of each house of the Legislature.

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