In 2015, the Florida Supreme Court decided State v. Shelley, which held that double jeopardy prohibits separate convictions based on the same solicitation conduct.

Multiple charges for the same course of illegal conduct were considered double Jeopardy. To over-simplify; soliciting a minor and traveling to meet a minor are two separate crimes, but to be convicted of both, you need to prove they are from separate courses of conduct – if not, it’s double jeopardy.

Thereafter, defendants flocked to court to challenge their convictions and to argue against some being overturned, the prosecution went outside the charging documents to establish that the two courses of conduct were separate. For example; defendant solicited on May 1st, but did not travel to meet until May 3rd. Only problem is – in some cases prosecutors had to go outside the charging documents to establish the separate courses of conduct.

In 2018, the Florida Supreme Court decided Lee v. State, which stated, “[T]o determine whether multiple convictions of solicitation of a minor . . . and traveling after solicitation of a minor are based upon the same conduct for purposes of double jeopardy, the reviewing court should consider only the charging document – not the entire evidentiary record.”

Last week, in Baker v. State, the 3rd District Court of Appeals lay down the law, saying:

“To be clear, under Lee, if the State wishes to charge a defendant for separate offenses under sections 847.0135(3) and (4), in order to avoid a double jeopardy violation, the charging document must be clear, on its face, that the conduct constituting solicitation for one offense is separate and distinct from the conduct constituting solicitation under the other offense.”

If you were charged with multiple offenses arising from the same course of conduct and think you might qualify for relief under Shelley, the first thing you should do is look at your charging documents and see whether they establish a separate course of conduct. If they do not, you might want to consult with an attorney to see whether you qualify for any relief.

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