State v. Crose
Sitting en banc, the Second District resolved a conflict between its own panel decisions in State v. James and Hull v. State over what it means for a sex offender to have been 'released from the sanction' under section 943.0435(1)(h), a prerequisite to prosecution for failing to register. The court held that the 'recent controversy rule'—which allowed courts to use post-enactment legislative amendments to divine the 'true' original intent of a prior statute—is incompatible with the Florida Supreme Court's supremacy-of-text approach announced in Ham v. Portfolio Recovery Associates and Conage v. United States, and receded from Hull and Madison at Soho to the extent they applied that rule. Applying supremacy-of-text principles to the pre-amendment statute, the court held that James correctly construed 'the sanction' to require completion of the entire sanction (not just a portion, such as a fine or, here, an unexpired probationary term) before registration duties attach, and it affirmed dismissal of the charge against Crose, whose probation had not yet been completed at the time of the alleged offense.
Key facts
- State charged Crose with failing to register as a sex offender under section 943.0435(1)(h), alleging the offense occurred in 2019 while Crose was still serving a probationary term imposed as part of his sanction.
- The trial court dismissed the charge, finding that Crose's registration duties had not yet attached because he had not completed his entire sanction, and that applying a 2021 statutory amendment to his 2019 conduct would violate ex post facto principles.
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Why it matters
This en banc decision is a major statutory-interpretation opinion that criminal practitioners can cite whenever the State or a defendant seeks to use a post-offense 'clarifying' amendment to reinterpret the meaning of a… — full analysis with a trial
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