Opinion
No. SC96554.
Opinion filed March 23, 2000.
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal — Certified Direct Conflict of Decisions — Third District — No. 3D99-61 (Dade County).
David M. Tarlow of Spencer Klein, P.A., Miami, Florida, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Fredericka Sands, Assistant Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Respondent.
We have for review Cazeau v. State, 740 So.2d 1250 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), in which the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed Jean Harrt Cazeau's violent career criminal sentence based on its prior decision in Higgs v. State, 695 So.2d 872 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997). In so affirming, the Cazeau court certified conflict with the Second District Court of Appeal's decision in Thompson v. State, 708 So.2d 315 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). We have jurisdiction.See Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. Based on our decision in State v. Thompson, 25 Fla. L. Weekly S1 (Fla. Dec. 22, 1999), in which we held unconstitutional chapter 95-182, Laws of Florida, as violative of the single subject rule, we quash the decision below and remand for resentencing in accordance with the valid laws in effect on September 5, 1996, the date on which Cazeau committed the underlying offense in this case. See Thompson, 25 Fla. L. Weekly at S3 (remanding for resentencing in accordance with the valid laws in effect at the time the defendant committed her offenses).
We note that Cazeau has standing to raise a single subject rule challenge to chapter 95-182, Laws of Florida, even assuming the window period for raising such a challenge closed on October 1, 1996, as determined by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Salters v. State, 731 So.2d 826, 826 (Fla. 4th DCA),review granted, No. 95,663 (Fla. Dec. 3, 1999). Further, even though Cazeau failed to raise a single subject rule challenge in the trial court, we find that such challenge may be properly addressed in this case for the first time on appeal. Cf. Heggs v. State, 25 Fla. L. Weekly S137, S138, S140 n. 4 (Fla. Feb. 17, 2000); Nelson v. State, 24 Fla. L. Weekly S250, S251 (Fla. May 27, 1999), cert. denied, 120 S.Ct. 950 (2000); State v. Johnson, 616 So.2d 1, 3-4 (Fla. 1993).
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and SHAW, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
WELLS, J., dissents.