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405 So. 2d 973

State v. Thebeau

Supreme Court of Florida

Decided November 5, 1981

Supreme Court of Florida · decided 1981-11-05

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently April 1986

4 state decisions

Relies on 395 So. 2d 514 - State v. Benitez · State v. Werner

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1981-11-05

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STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Robert James THEBEAU, Appellee.
STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Howard Matthew BILFORD, Eduardo Garcell, George Luis Gonzales, Frank Vincent Dicamillo, Alberto Araujo, Luis Carlos Perez, and Jeffrey Eliot Howard, Appellees.

Nos. 57943, 57952.

¶1Supreme Court of Florida.

November 5, 1981.

¶2*974 Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Calvin L. Fox, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, for appellant.

¶3Philip Carlton, Jr., Miami, for Thebeau.

¶4William Cagney, Miami, for Bilford.

¶5Eric B. Feldman of Robert A. Spiegel, P.A., Coral Gables, for Garcell.

¶6Frederick Robbins, Miami, for Gonzales and Perez.

¶7William Moran, Miami, for Dicamillo and Araujo.

¶8Robert Josefsberg, Miami, for Howard.

¶9OVERTON, Justice.

¶10In State v. Benitez,395 So.2d 514 (Fla. 1981), and State v. Werner,402 So.2d 386 (Fla. 1981), we held constitutional section 893.135, Florida Statutes (1979), Florida's drug trafficking law. In addition to those arguments we found to be without merit in Benitez and Werner, appellees in the present consolidated appeals ask us to strike section 893.135 as unconstitutional on another ground. Appellees claim that their right to have a jury determine their guilt or innocence is infringed upon because the judge rather than a jury "may reduce or suspend the sentence if he finds that the defendant rendered such substantial assistance." We note that in most traditional sentencing proceedings in both federal and state courts, this discretionary authority is present in the trial judge, and not the jury, without specific statutory guidelines.

¶11We find appellees' assertions totally without merit, and uphold the constitutional validity of section 893.135. The instant causes are remanded for further proceedings.

¶12It is so ordered.

¶13SUNDBERG, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, ALDERMAN and McDONALD, JJ., concur.

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