Dorfman v. State

ENGLAND, Justice.

Bernard Dorfman brings us by petition for a writ of certiorari two issues requiring statewide clarification: (1) whether trial judges may impose so-called “general sentences” on defendants convicted of more than one crime; and (2) whether one sentenced to a prison term after he has spent time in a state mental hospital under a court committal order must be given credit against his sentence for the time spent in hospital confinement. The Third District Court of Appeal, in a decision reported at 333 So.2d 481, has approved a three year general sentence for the nine crimes of…