Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...Notwithstanding automatic restoration of civil rights, a person who has received final release from the Department of Offender Rehabilitation by expiration of sentence or who has been convicted of a felony and has been released from a county jail in Florida is not exempt from the registration requirements of Florida Statute 775.13 unless the Governor with approval of three members of the Cabinet has restored the person's civil rights with specific authority to own, possess or use a firearm....

...The county’s “Weatherization Assistance Program Policy” (“the Policy”), HS-012, makes ineligible any applicant who must register with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement under Florida Statute 775.13 as a person convicted of a felony [....

...Two days after entering the plea, Cella filed a motion to withdraw the plea. The basis of Cella's motion to withdraw his plea, as specifically alleged in the motion and testified to by Cella in two subsequent hearings, was that he was never informed he would have to register with the Sheriff's Department pursuant to section 775.13, Florida Statutes, which specifically requires registration if a nolo contendere plea is entered and adjudication of guilt is withheld....

...n was a collateral consequence of the plea and, therefore, its failure to inform him of the consequence did not rise to the level of manifest injustice. [1] On appeal, Cella argues that reversal is required because 1) the registration requirement of section 775.13 will have extreme consequences for him, given the fact he has no prior felony convictions or pleas and he will be in jeopardy of losing his livelihood as a result of the registration, and 2) he was misled by his attorney and the court about whether he would be convicted of the offense to which he pled....

...After reviewing the record, we do not find the consequences as extreme as Cella would have us believe. The scoresheet contained in the record reflects that in addition to twelve misdemeanor convictions, Cella's criminal history includes a conviction for felony petty theft. Thus, if Cella complied with section 775.13, as he *718 was supposed to, he is already or has been a registered felon....

...Given Cella's criminal history as reflected on his scoresheet and the Order of Probation which was explained to him, Cella's testimony that he had no idea of the employer notification requirements of his probation or of the registration requirements of section 775.13 is incredulous....

...of adjudication of guilt in accordance with established case law from the Florida courts. The problem here is not that Cella was misled by either the trial court or his attorney, but that he was not specifically advised that he had to register under section 775.13....

...Donovan v. State, 773 So.2d 1264 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000) (affirming denial of motion to vacate plea upon claim that defendant would not have entered the plea had he known he would be required to report to FDLE as a convicted sex offender). Registration under section 775.13 is not a direct consequence of the plea....

...hat a defendant may not set aside a plea on the basis that he or she was not advised of a collateral consequence. [4] Like this court in *720 Donovan, the trial court in the instant case denied Cella's motion because the registration requirements of section 775.13 are a collateral consequence of the plea and, therefore, the court was not required to advise Cella of that consequence....

...of a plea, while sometimes shaded in the relevant decisions, turns on whether the result represents a definite, immediate and largely automatic effect on the range of the defendant's punishment. Major, 814 So.2d at 431. Therefore, registration under section 775.13 does not have any "effect on the range of the defendant's punishment" because it is not a form of punishment for the crime committed....

...igent search to locate defendant). Furthermore, the tolling period of section 775.15(6), caused by Sherley's absence from the state, was insufficient to make his prosecution timely. Subsection (6) only extends the three year limitations period under section 775.13(2)(b) up to a three year maximum for a total of six years....

...Appellant Christian Burgos pled no contest to three felonies in 1996. He was sentenced as a youthful offender to concurrent terms of community control followed by concurrent terms of probation. Burgos appeals a 1999 order requiring him to register as a felon pursuant to section 775.13(1), Florida Statutes (1995)....

...of said county, be fingerprinted and photographed, and list the crime for which convicted, place of conviction, sentence imposed, if any, name, aliases, if any, address, and occupation. In the 1998 supplement to the 1997 Florida Statutes, the former section 775.13(1) became section 775.13(2)....

...A new section (1) was added to explain: As used in this section, the term "convicted" means, with respect to a person's felony offense, a determination of guilt which is the result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, regardless of whether adjudication is withheld. *968 The section 775.13(1) registration requirement in place at the time of defendant's sentencing was thus clarified two years later....

...or hold office until restoration of civil rights or removal of disability. The legislature has amplified on the disabilities which stem from conviction of a felony. Section 112.011 (employment); Section 790.23(1) (firearms); Section 40.07(1) (jury); Section 775.13 (registration of convicted felons); Section 97.041(3)(d) (voting); and Section 561.15 (beverage license), Florida Statutes (1975)....

...for which adjudication was withheld. See, e.g., § 112.3173, Fla. Stat. (regarding felonies involving breach of public trust, etc., which expressly includes a determination of guilt when adjudication is withheld in the definition of conviction); § 775.13(1), Fla....

...- 12 - See, e.g., § 112.3173, Fla. Stat. (regarding felonies involving breach of public trust, etc., which expressly includes a determination of guilt when adjudication is withheld in the definition of conviction); § 775.13(1), Fla....

...The charge-contained in the first count was for possession of a pistol after previously having-been convicted of a felony, in violation of' § 790.23 Fla.Stat., F.S.A. 1 The second-count charged failure to register with the-sheriff as a convicted felon, within 48 hours-after arrival in Dade County, in violation-of § 775.13 Fla.Stat, F.S.A....

exempt from the registration requirements of Section 775.-13, Florida Statutes.” The issue to be decided

...Section 943.325(10)(c) provides that [a]ny person previously convicted of an offense specified in this section, or a crime which, if committed in this state, would be an offense specified in this section, and who is also subject to the registration requirement imposed by s. 775.13, shall be subject to the collection requirement of this section when the appropriate agency described in this section verifies the identification information of the person. The collection requirement of this section does not apply to a person as described in s. 775.13(6). (Emphasis supplied.) Appellee’s sexual battery conviction is one of the crimes specified in section 943.325(1), Florida Statutes. Appellee, having been convicted of a felony, is a person subject to the registration requirements of section 775.13, Florida Statutes. It is undisputed that none of the exemptions contained in section 775.13, Florida Statutes, apply to the appellee....