{"id":116,"date":"2017-10-11T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearwatercriminallawyer.net\/?p=116"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:53:24","slug":"florida-court-analyzes-constitutes-weapon-felony-reclassification-statute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/florida-court-analyzes-constitutes-weapon-felony-reclassification-statute\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Court Analyzes What Constitutes a “Weapon” Under the Felony Reclassification Statute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida violent crimes are codified by statute. As a result, sometimes courts have to engage in the practice of statutory interpretation<\/a> to determine which crime is available for prosecution. The answer is not always obvious. For instance, the Florida First District Court of Appeals recently analyzed<\/a> whether a car could be considered a weapon under the felony reclassification statute in a Florida homicide case.The defendant spent an evening in January at a bar, drinking and watching basketball. At some point, the defendant and the victim got into an altercation at the bar, and the defendant was escorted out of the bar by its staff. The victim later left the bar with a friend, who testified that she saw the defendant’s car parked in a shopping center across the street from the victim’s apartment complex. The witness testified that the car flashed its light. The victim pulled into the parking lot, exited his car, and rushed toward the vehicle. The defendant advanced his vehicle and struck the victim, who died of head injuries on the following day. The defendant was apprehended two weeks later in Chicago. At trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of manslaughter with a weapon. On appeal, the defendant argued that an automobile was not a “weapon” within the statutory meaning of that word.<\/p>\n

Florida Statutes Section 775.087(1)<\/a> enhances the degree of a felony to a greater degree when the commission of the felony occurred while the defendant used a weapon. The statute does not provide a definition of “weapon.” Therefore, principles of statutory interpretation require the court to turn to the common or ordinary meaning of the word.<\/p>\n

Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida violent crimes are codified by statute. As a result, sometimes courts have to engage in the practice of statutory interpretation to determine which crime is available for prosecution. The answer is not always obvious. For instance, the Florida First District Court of Appeals recently analyzed whether a car could be considered a weapon under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminal-defense","category-violent-crimes"],"yoast_head":"\nWeapons Case: Constitutes Weapon Felony Reclassification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dealing with gun charges? See how this ruling on constitutes weapon felony reclassification your defense in Clearwater. 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