Willie v. StateWillie v. State
We review an order denying appellant‘s motion, filed pursuant to
Effective January 1, 1989, a new felony division was created within the circuit court for Duval County, in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. This new division was created by an administrative order issued by the chief judge of the Fourth Circuit, as part of a “career criminal pilot project.” See In re Certification of Judicial Manpower, 521 So.2d 116, 118 (Fla. 1988). The division was intended to facilitate implementation of prioritized “investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of career criminals,” as contemplated by Chapter 88-131, Laws of Florida, Sections 3 through 5 (now
Sometime late in 1989, appellant was charged with a burglary of a dwelling, alleged to have occurred earlier in 1989. Pursuant to the provisions of the administrative order, appellant‘s case was assigned to the Career Criminal Division. (Appellant does not claim that he did not meet the criteria set forth in the administrative order.) A relatively short time after he had been arraigned, appellant entered into discussions with the state, which resulted in a written negotiated plea of guilty to the burglary charge. The terms of the agreement were that, in return for his plea of guilty, appellant would be adjudicated guilty of burglary of a dwelling and sentenced to thirteen years in prison as an habitual felony offender, and the state would withdraw its previously filed notice seeking to have appellant treated as an habitual violent felony offender. The trial court accepted the plea agreement; adjudicated appellant guilty of burglary of a dwelling; and sentenced appellant to thirteen years in prison, as an habitual felony offender. (Appellant does not contend that he did not meet the requirements for classification as an habitual felony offender. It appears from the record that, in the five years immediately prior to the commission of the offense for which he was sentenced, appellant had been convicted of unarmed robbery, sale of cocaine and burglary of a structure.)
Appellant argues that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate him guilty and to sentence him because the Career Criminal Division had been created in violation of law. His argument can be summarized as follows:
“Jurisdiction is the power conferred on a court by the sovereign to take cognizance of the subject matter of a litigation and the parties brought before it and to hear and determine the issues and render judgment.” Dyer v. Battle, 168 So.2d 175, 176 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964). Accord Tucker v. State, 417 So.2d 1006 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Deeb, Inc. v. Board of Public Instruction of Columbia County, 196 So.2d 22 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967). In Florida, at the time appellant was adjudicated guilty and sentenced, this “power” was conferred on the circuit courts by
“[I]t is the court, and not the particular judges thereof, that has jurisdiction over a particular cause, controversy and the parties thereto.” Kruckenberg v. Powell, 422 So.2d 994, 996 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). Thus, “[a]ll circuit judges are empowered to hear and determine any case properly within [that] court‘s jurisdiction.” Payette v. Clark, 559 So.2d 630, 633 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). While circuit courts are often divided into divisions for purposes of administrative efficiency, the assignment of a circuit judge to a particular division does not limit that judge‘s jurisdiction; he or she continues to possess the authority to exercise the full power conferred on the circuit courts by the state. See, e.g., Kruckenberg v. Powell, supra; Grossman v. Selewacz, 417 So.2d 728 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). For example, “[a] judge in the probate division or the juvenile division or the civil division or the criminal division has the authority and jurisdiction to hear cases involving
City of Coral Gables v. Blount, supra, upon which appellant relies, is perfectly consistent with the preceding analysis. In that case, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit had divided itself by local rule into four divisions. Appellants had filed a suit in equity, which was assigned to one division of that court, seeking to enjoin enforcement of a final judgment entered by another division of that court. A temporary injunction was entered by the judge into whose division the suit in equity had fallen. When appellees informed appellants that they would seek to have the judge in whose division the judgment had been entered set aside the injunction, appellants filed in the equity proceeding a petition requesting that the suit remain in the division to which it had been assigned. The judge into whose division the equity proceeding had fallen denied the petition, and appellants appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed. Noting that the circuit had divided itself into divisions by local rule, the Court said:
Such rules adopted by the four Circuit Judges are for their convenience in facilitating the disposition of the business of the Circuit Court. The rules do not affect the constitutional jurisdiction of each Circuit Judge in the Judicial Circuit. Each of the Circuit Judges may exercise all the powers of the Circuit Court... .
131 Fla. at 38, 178 So. at 555.
At the time of appellant‘s sentencing,
The foregoing discussion is critical to the outcome of this appeal because appellant neither raised the issue of the propriety of the creation of the Career Criminal Division in the trial court before sentencing, nor took a direct appeal.
For the reasons discussed above, the issue raised by appellant does not relate to the trial court‘s jurisdiction to adjudicate appellant guilty and to sentence him as an habitual felony offender. Rather, the issue raised merely concerns the propriety of the creation of the Career Criminal Division. Because the issue raised does not involve any fundamental error, appellant
AFFIRMED.
SMITH and ZEHMER, JJ., concur.