Armas v. State
Armas v. State
Opinion of the Court
The issue that we resolve in this case is whether Appellant was placed in double jeopardy, in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution, when he was tried and convicted upon an information charging him with one count of possession of cannabis in an amount exceeding 20 grams with the intent to sell or deliver and a second count of manufacturing cannabis, each being a third-degree felony in violation of section 893.13(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2015). For the following reasons, we conclude that no double jeopardy violation occurred, and we therefore affirm Appellant's convictions.
The pertinent facts of this case are undisputed. During a single search of Appellant's residence, law enforcement confiscated thirty-one cannabis plants from a bedroom and approximately one kilogram of finished, dried loose-leaf cannabis, packaged into six or seven plastic bags, inside a duffle bag located on the kitchen counter. Further, the cannabis found in the duffle bag came from the plants found in the bedroom. Appellant was convicted after trial of possession of cannabis with intent to sell, manufacture,
Appellant argues that his dual convictions here violate double jeopardy principles because each "is predicated on indistinct conduct occurring during a single criminal episode" with the conduct being Appellant's "possession of marijuana plants and packaged product." The double jeopardy clauses of the federal and state constitutions prohibit the imposition of multiple punishments for the same criminal offense but do not prohibit multiple punishments for different offenses arising out of the same criminal transaction or episode if the Legislature intended to authorize separate punishments. Roughton v. State ,
The determination as to whether double jeopardy is violated based on undisputed facts is a purely legal determination, making our standard of review de novo. Binns v. State ,
The dispositive question here is whether under section 775.021(4)(a) and without regard to the accusatory pleading or proof at trial, possession of cannabis with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver and manufacturing of cannabis are separate offenses when they arose out of the same criminal transaction and are charged under the same statute. In Anderson v. State ,
Appellant was charged with violating section 893.13(1)(a), Florida Statutes (2015), which provides, in pertinent part, that "a person may not sell, manufacture, or deliver, or possess with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver, a controlled substance." We agree with the First District that there is no double jeopardy violation for possession of cannabis and manufacturing of cannabis because each offense contains *820an element that the other does not. Anderson ,
Appellant separately argues that because he was charged with two violations of the same statute arising out of a single incident, the test to be applied in determining the existence of a double jeopardy violation is not the "same elements" test that is utilized under Blockburger when two separate statutes are being compared, but rather the "allowable unit of prosecution" test. See Guetzloe v. State ,
We distinguish both McKnight and Guetzloe because in those cases, we were addressing multiple violations of the same offense. Here, Appellant's two criminal offenses are distinguishable discrete acts that are not the same offense, even though both are charged under section 893.13(1)(a), because this statute proscribes alternative or separate forms of criminal conduct. As previously discussed, the Florida Supreme Court had no difficulty in applying the "separate offense" analysis under section 775.021(4)(a) in McCloud , holding that there was no double jeopardy violation for convictions of the separate offenses of sale of cocaine and possession of the same cocaine, or in Davis , concluding that there was no double jeopardy violation for the delivery of cocaine and the possession of the same cocaine with the intent to sell or deliver because they were separate offenses. See also State v. Oliver ,
Accordingly, we hold that Appellant's dual convictions, even though arising out of the same criminal transaction or episode and involving the same cannabis, do not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy. Additionally, none of the three exceptions contained in section 775.021(4)(b) is applicable here because neither of Appellant's offenses is a lesser included offense of the other, they do not have identical elements of proof, and they are not degrees of the same offense.
AFFIRMED.
COHEN, C.J., and BERGER, J., concur.
The record does not show that count one of the information was ever amended from possession of cannabis with intent to sell or deliver to possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver. There is also no record explanation or indication why the word "manufacture" was included in the jury instruction and verdict form on this count. Nevertheless, this inclusion is not significant to our analysis.
Section 775.021(4)(a) is a codification of the "same elements" test enunciated in Blockburger v. United States ,
The two crimes occurred when the defendant handed an undercover agent one piece of crack cocaine.
§ 106.1439, Fla. Stat. (2004).
This exception under section 775.021(4)(b) 2. prohibits a defendant from being punished for violating two or more degrees of the same offense as provided by statute. For example, the theft statute identifies three degrees of grand theft and two degrees of petit theft. See § 812.014, Fla. Stat. (2005). The homicide statute identifies three degrees of murder, see
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.