Florida Court of Appeals Reinstates Voter Fraud Charges Against Ex-Felons
On July 17, 2024, the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeals of Florida reinstated voter fraud charges against two former prisoners which had previously been dismissed. Ronald Lee Miller was charged with illegally voting as an ex-felon in Miami-Dade County’s 2020 elections. Terry Hubbard was also charged with illegally voting as an ex-felon in Broward County elections that same year.
After Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) created it during the 2020 legislative session, the state Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS) began investigating whether ex-felons had illegally voted in that year’s election. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) made its first 20 arrests in August 2022, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Jan. 2023, p.18.]
Miller moved to dismiss the charges against him, arguing that the Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP) lacked authority because his alleged crimes did not occur in more than one judicial circuit. The trial court granted the motion, and the state appealed.
The Third District appellate court reversed. It noted that Miller registered and voted in Miami-Dade County, after his voter registration was submitted to the neighboring Broward County Supervisor of Elections, who then forwarded it to the Florida Secretary of State. Based on that, the appellate court concluded that the alleged crime spanned more than one judicial circuit—so OSP had jurisdiction over the case under Fla. Stat. § 16.56(1)(a) (2020). “It doesn’t matter that Miller may not have intended to set off a chain of related events in other jurisdictions in order to vote,” the Court said.
Dissenting Judge Edwin A. Scales III took issue with the majority’s interpretation of the statute creating OSP, whose authority is “specifically and significantly limited” to just “15 enumerated offenses.” He said that the majority wrongly focused on “whether Miller’s single-county actions occasioned ‘reasonably foreseeable’ activity by other actors in other judicial circuits.” Instead the law grants OSP authority “‘only’ when the charged ‘offense . . . has occurred in two or more judicial circuits’”; since that didn’t happen, Scales said that he would have affirmed the trial court’s decision. See: State v. Miller, 49 Fla. L. Weekly 1521 (Dist. Ct. App. 2024).
The trial court in Hubbard’s case also dismissed the two counts of voter fraud against him, and for the same reason—that OSP lacked jurisdiction to prosecute alleged crimes unless they occurred in two or more judicial circuits. The state appealed this ruling, as well.
Like the Third District, the Fourth District appellate court also reversed, but for different reasons. In Hubbard’s case, the appellate court ruled that 2023 amendments to Fla. Stat. § 16.56 applied retroactively. That expanded OSP’s jurisdiction from cases occurring in two or more judicial circuits to cases affecting two or more circuits, per Fla. Stat. § 16.56(1)(c) (2023).
This amendment was procedural, and therefore retroactive, because it did not “diminish Hubbard’s rights” but “merely address[ed] whether the local prosecutor or the OSP has the authority to prosecute certain cases.” OSP had jurisdiction, the Court said, because Hubbard applied to vote in Broward County “with knowledge that the application would be sent to the Department of State in [the state Capital in Tallahassee in] Leon County for verification.”
The decision also drew a stinging dissent from Judge Melanie G. May, who said that the issue “is the constitutional and statutory limitations on the reach” of OSP. Under the majority’s interpretation, she warned, “any act committed in a single judicial circuit that involves licensing in the Second Judicial Circuit”—home of the state government in Leon County—“would necessarily fall within the grasp of the OSP’s overreaching arm.” See: State v. Hubbard, 2024 Fla. App. LEXIS 5589 (4th Dist. Ct. App.).
Both Miller and Hubbard requested en banc rehearings before the full Court of Appeals in their respective Districts. The Third District denied Miller’s request on August 21, 2024. See: State v. Miller, Fla. Ct. App. (3rd Dist.), Case No. 3D2022-2180. Hubbard’s request is still pending at the Fourth District, and PLN will update developments as they are available. See: State v. Hubbard, Fla. Ct. App. (4th Dist.), Case No. 4D2022-3429.
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