State of Florida v. Elizabeth Francis Marsh a/k/a Elizabeth Frances Marsh

Summary

The Supreme Court of Florida held that dual convictions for driving under the influence causing serious bodily injury and driving with a suspended license causing serious bodily injury are not barred by double jeopardy. Applying the Blockburger same-elements test as codified in section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes, the court concluded that each offense requires proof of an element the other does not and quashed the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision.

Holdings

1. The Blockburger same-elements test, as codified in section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes (2014), governs whether the dual convictions violate double jeopardy; the single homicide rule is incompatible with the plain language of the statute.
2. The offenses are separate under the same-elements test because DUI requires proof of intoxication, while driving with a suspended license requires proof of a suspended driving privilege.
3. Dual convictions for DUI with serious bodily injury and driving with a suspended license with serious bodily injury do not violate double jeopardy.

Questions Presented

1. Whether dual convictions for driving under the influence causing serious bodily injury and driving with a suspended license causing serious bodily injury violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.
2. Whether Florida's statutory same-elements test and the exceptions in section 775.021(4)(b), Florida Statutes (2014), prohibit the dual convictions.
3. Whether the single homicide rule, rather than the Blockburger same-elements test codified in section 775.021(4), governs the double-jeopardy analysis.

Disposition

quashed