STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Kevin J. DUNMANN, Respondent.
STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
Burnice C. BAXLEY, et al., Respondents.
Supreme Court of Florida.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and C. Michael Barnette, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for petitioner.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Christopher S. Quarles, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for respondents.
McDONALD, Justice.
The state has petitioned for review of Baxley v. State,
The state charged Burnice Baxley, Danny Lee Harvey, Frederick Hazelwood, Glenn Barna, Andre Taylor, and Kevin Dunmann with separate unrelated counts of grand theft second degreе of a motor vehicle in violation of section 812.014, Florida Statutes (1977 & 1979). The informations uniformly charged that the defendants did "knowingly obtain or use or endeavor to obtain or use a motor vehicle, ... with the intent to deprive the said owner or custodian of a right to the property or a benefit therefrom, and to appropriate the property to his own use or to the use of a person not entitled therеto." All of these defendants except Dunmann filed motions to dismiss, claiming that the informations' failure to allege the intent to permanently deprive the owner of his property rendered them fatally defeсtive. The trial courts denied these motions, and all of these defendants but Dunmann pled nolo contendere, reserving the right to appeal the denials of the motions to dismiss. Dunmann went to trial, and a jury found him guilty as charged.
On the state's motion the district court consolidated the appeals of Baxley, Harvey, Hazelwood, Barna, and Taylor. Sitting en banc, the district court followed its previous decision in Faison v. State,
In State v. McNeill, on the other hand, the fourth district ruled the opposite way when faced with the identical problem. An information charged that McNeill "`did ... unlawfully use, or endeavor to use'" a motor vehicle "`with the intent to appropriate the property to his own use or to the use of any person not entitled thereto.'"
The questions presented by these cases are: (1) whether thе omnibus theft statute, chapter 77-342, Laws of Florida (codified as the Florida Anti-Fencing Act, sections 812.012 812.037, Florida Statutes), repealed by implication section 812.041; and (2) whether the legislature meant to dispense with the element of intent to permanently deprive an owner of his property. We find that chapter 77-342 did repeal section 812.041 by implication and that the specific intent necessary for theft is the intent to steаl, not the intent to permanently deprive an owner of his property.
Subsection (1) of section 812.014 provides:
A person is guilty of theft if he obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or to use, the property of another with intent:
(a) To deprive the other person of a right to the property or a benefit therefrom.
(b) To appropriate the property to his own use or to the use of any person not entitled thereto.
"Obtains or uses" is defined as "any manner of: (a) Taking or exercising control over property [or] (b) Making any unauthorized use, disposition, or transfer of property." § 812.012(2), Fla. Stat. (1977) (emphasis supplied). In contrast to the above-quoted portions of sections 812.014 and 812.012, however, section 812.041, Florida Statutes (1977), purports to deal with the unauthorized temporary use of motor vehicles, aircraft, and boats and provides as follows:
(1) Any person who tеmporarily uses any motor vehicle, aircraft, boat, or boat motor without the authority of the owner or his representative, or who shall knowingly *168 be a party to such unauthorized use, shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to any case in which the taking of the property of another is with intent to steal thе same or in which the taking is under a claim of right or with the presumed consent of the owner or other person having the legal control, care, or custody of the same.
Thus, section 812.041, the so-called "joy-riding stаtute," pertains to temporary unauthorized use, while sections 812.014 and 812.012 pertain to any unauthorized use. By the bare language of these sections, therefore, either sections 812.014 and 812.012 must be interpreted narrowly in order to give section 812.041 a field of operation or else we must hold that section 812.041 has been repealed by implication.
A repeal by implication is not favored. As this Court has previously stated:
While statutes may be impliedly as well as expressly repealed, yet the enactment of a statute does not operate to repeal by implication prior statutes unless such is clearly the legislаtive intent. An intent to repeal prior statutes or portions thereof may be made apparent when there is a positive and irreconcilable repugnancy between the provisions of a later enactment and those of prior existing statutes. But the mere fact that a later statute relates to matters covered in whole or in part by a prior statute does not cause a repeal of the older statute. If the two may operate upon the same subject without positive inconsistency or repugnancy in their practical effect and consequences, they should each bе given the effect designed for them unless a contrary intent clearly appears.
State v. Gadsden County,
Intent of the legislature, therefore, is what guides a court in determining whether a repeal hаs been effected by implication. That is, we must ascertain whether the legislature expressed its intent as to a new statute's preempting an entire area of the law or whether the legislature meant an existing law to remain in effect regardless of a new statute which might appear to infringe on the scope of the former. Our analysis of the statutes involved here leads us to conclude that chapter 77-342, Laws of Florida, from which sections 812.014 and 812.012 are derived, repealed section 812.041 by implication.
Chapter 77-342, codified as sections 812.012 812.037, is an omnibus theft act and is entitled the "Florida Anti-Fencing Act." Ch. 77-342, § 2, Laws of Fla. Despite its narrow title, the act encompasses more than just trafficking in stolen property. Roush v. State,
*169 The intent to permanently deprive an owner of property has previously been recognized as an element of larceny. American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Sunny South Aircraft Service, Inc.,
It is well established, however, that the legislature has the power to dispense with intent as an element of a crime and to prescribe punishment without regard to the mental attitude of an accused. As this Court has previously stated:
It is within the power of the Legislature to declare an act a crime regardless of the intent or knowledge of the violation thereof. The doing of the act inhibited by the statute makes the crime and moral turpitude or purity of motive and the knowledge or ignorance of its criminal character are immaterial circumstances in the question of guilt.
Coleman v. State ex rel. Jackson,
acts prohibited by statute (statutory as distinguished from common law crimes) need not be accompаnied by a criminal intent, unless such intent be specifically required by the statute itself, as the doing of the act furnishes such intent.
La Russa v. State,
In State v. Allen,
In Bell v. State,
We quash Baxley and Dunmann and remand for the district court to issue orders consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
ALDERMAN, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, OVERTON and EHRLICH, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[*] Although we do not rely on this in reaching the instant conclusion, we note that the 1982 legislature amended § 812.014(1) to provide for intent to deprive either permanently or temporarily and repealed § 812.041. Ch. 82-164, §§ 1, 2, Laws of Fla. The fifth district has recognized the changes made by ch. 82-164 in Green v. State,
