Barbara Anne Ratliff appeals the judgment and sentence imposed following her no contest plea to keeping or maintaining a public nuisance in violation of section 823.10, Florida Statutes (2008).
The State charged Ratliff with keeping or maintaining a “dwelling/structure” used for selling, distributing, or ingesting illegal substances in violation of section 823.10, which provides:
(1) Any store, shop, warehouse, dwelling house, building, structure, vehicle, ship, boat, vessel, or aircraft, or any place whatever, which is visited by persons for the purpose of unlawfully using any substance controlled under chapter 893 or any drugs as described in chapter 499, or which is used for the illegal keeping, selling, or delivering of the same, shall be deemed a public nuisance. No person shall keep or maintain such public nuisance or aid and abet another in keeping or maintaining such public nuisance. Any person who willfully keeps or maintains a public nuisance or willfully aids or abets another in keeping or maintaining a public nuisance, and such public nuisance is a warehouse, structure, or building, commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s.775.082, s.775.083, or s.775.084.
(2) Any proceeding brought under this section shall be governed by chapter 60.
(Emphasis supplied). Ratliff moved to strike or dismiss the information
For the State’s argument to prevail here, we would have to read the last sentence of subsection (1) in isolation. However, we are required to read it within the context of the entire subsection in order to ascertain legislative intent. See Lamar Outdoor Advertising-Lakeland v. Dept. of Transp.,
Reversed and remanded.
Notes
. Ratliff also entered a nolo contendere plea to sale of methamphetamme in a separate case. Ratliff does not challenge that judgment or sentence.
. The trial court apparently treated Ratliff’s motion to strike the information as a motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4).
