{"id":656,"date":"2019-09-20T19:59:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T23:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminallawyer.net\/?p=656"},"modified":"2024-09-06T12:28:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:28:41","slug":"florida-court-rules-civil-commitment-for-sex-offender-is-not-a-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-rules-civil-commitment-for-sex-offender-is-not-a-punishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Rules Civil Commitment for Sex Offender is Not a Punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In many instances in which a person is charged with a sex crime, the person will choose to enter into a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. Under the terms of a plea agreement, the defendant will either enter a guilty plea or plea of no contest to the charged offenses in exchange for a lesser sentence. In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/edca.1dca.org\/DCADocs\/2018\/0518\/180518_1284_02152019_10353667_i.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">case<\/a> arising out of the District Court of Appeals of Florida, First District, the court discussed whether the State\u2019s involuntary commitment for sex offender treatment of a defendant who was convicted of sexual battery violated the plea agreement. If you are faced with charges of sexual battery it is critical to retain a proficient St. Petersburg sex crime defense attorney to help you determine the best manner to proceed in your case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Procedural Background of the Case<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reportedly, in 2002, the defendant was charged with sexual battery. He entered into a plea agreement by which he was convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment followed by five years of sex offender probation. Following his release from prison in 2009, he was transferred to a Civil Commitment Center under the direction of the Department of Children and Families. The defendant then admitted to violating his probation in 2013 and was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment. The defendant appealed, arguing that his civil commitment was an enhancement to his sentence and therefore violated both his plea agreement and double jeopardy. Additionally, he argued that as he remained confined his probation never began and the State, therefore, had no right to revoke his probation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On appeal, the court affirmed the revocation of the defendant\u2019s probation. The court stated that under Florida law, involuntary commitment of a person convicted of a sex crime is a civil commitment and not a punishment. Therefore, a plea agreement for imprisonment followed by probation is not violated if the defendant is committed to a sex offender facility following his or her imprisonment. The court explained that the Florida Supreme Court explicitly rejected the argument that a civil commitment was an additional term of probation. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-rules-civil-commitment-for-sex-offender-is-not-a-punishment\/#more-656\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In many instances in which a person is charged with a sex crime, the person will choose to enter into a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. Under the terms of a plea agreement, the defendant will either enter a guilty plea or plea of no contest to the charged offenses in exchange for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-defense","category-sex-crimes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida Court Rules Civil Commitment for Sex Offender is Not a Punishment &#8212; St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 20, 2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In many instances in which a person is charged with a sex crime, the person will choose to enter into a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. Under &#8212; September 20, 2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-rules-civil-commitment-for-sex-offender-is-not-a-punishment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Court Rules Civil Commitment for Sex Offender is Not a Punishment &#8212; St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 20, 2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In many instances in which a person is charged with a sex crime, the person will choose to enter into a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. Under &#8212; September 20, 2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stpetersburgcriminalattorney.net\/blog\/florida-court-rules-civil-commitment-for-sex-offender-is-not-a-punishment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-20T23:59:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-06T16:28:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Court Rules Civil Commitment for Sex Offender is Not a Punishment &#8212; St. Petersburg Criminal Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 20, 2019","description":"In many instances in which a person is charged with a sex crime, the person will choose to enter into a plea agreement rather than proceed to trial. 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