Cook v. State

Aug 6, 1999
98-2726
Versions:

James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Susan A. Fagan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Mary G. Jolley, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

THOMPSON, J.

Larry Carl Cook appeals his conviction and sentencing for robbery with a firearm1 and resisting arrest without violence.2 Cook was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment pursuant to section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997), the Prison Releasee Reoffender Punishment Act. He argues that the Act is unconstitutional. We disagree and affirm. See Speed v. State, 732 So. 2d 17 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999); Woods v. State, 740 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999); McKnight v. State, 727 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999).

AFFIRMED.

COBB and HARRIS, JJ., concur.

ON MOTION TO CERTIFY

THOMPSON, J.

We grant the Appellant‘s Motion to Certify and certify the following question as one of great public importance:

DOES THE PRISON RELEASE REOFFENDER PUNISHMENT ACT, CODIFIED AS SECTION 775.082(8), FLORIDA STATUTES (1997), VIOLATE THE SEPARATION OF POWERS CLAUSE OF THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION?

COBB and HARRIS, JJ., concur.

Notes

1
§ 812.13(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (1997)
2
§ 843.02, Fla. Stat. (1997)