J.E.A. v. State

STRINGER, Judge.

J.E.A. challenges a final disposition order entered for a felony battery charge. Because Florida’s juvenile delinquency statute does not expressly authorize the use of prior withheld delinquency adjudications to enhance the level of criminal offenses, we reverse and remand for a final disposition hearing on misdemeanor battery.

Section 784.03(2), Florida Statutes (2000), provides that “[a] person who has *852two prior convictions for battery who commits a third or subsequent battery commits a felony of the third degree.”1 (Emphasis supplied). Based on his history of four prior…