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110 Fla. 279

149 So 521

Coulson v. State

Supreme Court of Florida

Decided May 22, 1933

Supreme Court of Florida · decided 1933-05-22

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“the verdict of the jury is fatally defective in that it did not expressly determine separately the historical fact of the plaintiff in error's first conviction, as alleged in the Circuit Court indictment.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Barnhill v. State

“reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to have such appropriate proceedings as may be in accordance with law.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Barnhill v. State

Relies on Benson v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1933-05-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently August 1981

4 state decisions

20193319401950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Davis, C. J.

¶1 This is a writ of error prosecuted to a judgment of conviction for violation of the State prohibition laws against the sale, manufacture or possession of intoxicating liquors, second offense. See Section 7630 C. G.. L„ 5486 R. G. S.

¶2 The Attorney General concedes that the judgment of conviction cannot stand because the verdict of the jury is fatally defective in that it did not expressly determine separately the historical fact of the plaintiff in error’s first conviction, as alleged in the Circuit Court indictment.

¶3 When a person is indicted and tried for a violation of the intoxicating liquor law as a second offender under Section 7630 C. G. L., 5486 R. G. S., the jury should expressly determine separately the question of the historical fact of the defendant’s former conviction as alleged. Benson v. State, 88 Fla. 103, 101 Sou. Rep. 231. The verdict in this case is simply, “We the Jurors find the defendant guilty of first and second count James ITobbs, Foreman.” We hold, in line with the case above cited and the contention of plaintiff in error, that under such a verdict no judgment of conviction for a second offense violation of the liquor law was authorized, therefore this writ of error is well taken and the judgment must be reversed' and the cause remanded with directions to have such appropriate proceedings as may be in accordance with law.

¶4 Reversed and remanded with directions.

Ellis and TERRELL, J. J., concur. Whitfield, P. J., and Brown and'BuFORD, J. J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
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