Opinion
No. SC95950
Opinion filed June 22, 2000
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal — Direct Conflict Fifth District — Case No. 5D98-2677 (Orange County).
James B. Gibson, Public Defender and Noel A. Pelella, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Petitioner
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Belle B. Schumann, Kristen L. Davenport, and Kellie A. Nielan, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Respondent
We have for review the decision in Patten v. State, 733 So.2d 1159 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), in which the district court affirmed the lower court's decision (interpreting the Prison Releasee Reoffender Act, section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997) (the "Act") to be a mandatory sentencing provision). In so doing, the Fifth District relied on Woods v. State, 740 So.2d 20 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), and McKnight v. State, 727 So.2d 314 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.
We recently held that the Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act does not violate separation of powers, and rejected other constitutional challenges to the Act. See State v. Cotton, SC94996 SC95281 (Fla. June 15, 2000). For the reasons expressed in Cotton, we approve the Fifth District's decision in this case.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and SHAW, WELLS, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE and LEWIS, JJ., concur.
QUINCE, J., dissents with an opinion.
I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissent in State v. Cotton, Nos. SC94996 SC95281 (Fla. June 15, 2000).