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580 So. 2d 281

Docket No. 90-1919.

Walker v. State

Donald WALKER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided May 15, 1991.

Rehearing and Certification Denied June 20, 1991.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1991-05-15

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently April 2013

13 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Under the plain language of the statute, only first degree felonies — not those which are already made life felonies — can be enhanced under section 775.084(4)(b)1,”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 597 So. 2d 823 - Lamont v. State

Relies on Johnson v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1991-05-15

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender and Tania Ostapoff, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

¶2Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Georgina Jimenez-Orosa, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4We affirm appellant's conviction for second degree murder with a firearm. Walker was sentenced as a habitual violent offender under section 775.084(4)(b)1, Florida Statutes (1989), to life without eligibility for release for 15 years. We reverse that enhancement.

¶5As the First District did in Johnson v. State,568 So.2d 519 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), we conclude that his second degree murder was already enhanced to a life felony under section 775.087(1)(a) for use of a firearm and thus could not be additionally enhanced under section 775.084(4)(b)1 because it was no longer a first degree felony. Under the plain language of the statute, only first degree felonies — not those which are already made life felonies — can be enhanced under section 775.084(4)(b)1. Appellant's third issue on appeal is now moot by this disposition.

¶6*282 AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART.

¶7DOWNEY, GUNTHER and FARMER, JJ., concur.

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