Opinion
No. SC96348.
Opinion filed March 23, 2000.
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal — Certified Direct Conflict of Decisions — Fifth District — No. 5D98-1068 (Seminole County).
James R. Valerino, Sanford, Florida, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Kellie A. Nielan and Robin A. Compton, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, Florida, for Respondent.
We have for review Hill v. State, 740 So.2d 581 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed Isaac Hill's violent career criminal sentences and certified conflict with the Second District Court of Appeal's decision inThompson 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 July 8, 1996, the date on which Hill committed the underlying offenses 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 Hill 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 Hill 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.