LaVALLEY v. State

The majority properly resolves this case by applying the plain language of section 913.08, Florida Statutes, and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.350, which link the number of peremptory challenges to the “offense charged,” in the singular. I write first to note that although our holding in this case is consistent with the result in Buchanan v. State, 927 So.2d 209 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006), it is not wholly consistent with the reasoning in that case. Buchanan should have been decided based simply upon the long-standing case law treating possession of a firearm as “an essential element of the…