Michael Crist V State of Florida

MICHAEL CRIST, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, FIFTH DISTRICT 2023 Fla. Apps LEXUS 296, 2025 LX 66766; 50 Fla. L. Wockly D 177

Case No. 502022-2966

January 10, 2025, Decided

Notice:

NOT FINAL UNTIL DISPOSITION OF ANY TIMELY AND AUTHORIZED MOTION UNDER FLAR. APP

P. 9.330 OR 9.331.

Editorial Information: Prior History

On appeal from the Circuit Court for Sumter County, Mary P. Hatcher, Judge. LT Case No. 2019-CF-001352

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Richard A. Pallas. Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Judges: MAKAR, J. WALLIS, J., concurs. SOUD, J., dissents with opinion.

CASE SUMMARY The requirement that a Florida driver's license contain the designation "SEXUAL PREDATOR" for persons in that category constituted compelled speech that was unconstitutional under the strict scrutiny test. This designation on drivers' licenses was not the least restrictive means of achieving that interest.

OVERVIEW:

Key Legal Holdings

Material Facts

Controlling Law

Court Rationale

OUTCOME:

Procedural Outcome

LexisNexis Headnotes

Criminal Law & Procedure > Criminal Offenses > Sex Crimes Sexual Assault > Abuse of Children > Penalties

In general, sexual predators are sexual offenders who have committed two or more sexual offenses, who used physical violence in such offenses, or who preyed on children. Fla. Stat. 775.21(3)(a) (2024).

The legislature has declared that sexual predators present an extreme threat to the public safety and are extremely likely to use physical violence and to repeat their offenses. Fla. Stat. EC 775.21(3)(a) (2024). The legislature has said that Florida has a compelling interest in protecting the public from sexual predators and in protecting children from predatory sexual activity, and there is sufficient justification for requiring sexual predators to register and for requiring community and public notifications of the presence of sexual predators. 

Fla. Stat. 775.21(3)(a), 775.21(3)(c)

Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Constitutional Las Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedum

of Speech Form

A Florida driver license is set purely a governmentally controlled forum with only governmentally approved viewpoints or speech, it is a hybrid of government and and private speech

Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedom The US. Const amend. I itself may constrain the government's speech if the government seeks to compel

private persons to convey the government's speech. Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedoms

Government speech focuses on the government's interest in expressing its own views without compelling a private person to communicate information or a message the person person does not wish to convey. Compelled speech

iwolves the government compelling a person to communicate such information or messages. A driver license is governmentally regulated, but that does not diminish the fact that the license is personal and readily identifiable as an individual's personal license with information related directly to that person.

Government regulation of driver licenses does not give the government the right to compel whatever message the government desires.

Constitutional Lars Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedom The US. Const, amend. 1 itself may constrain the government's speech if the government seeks to compel private persons to convey the government's speech.

Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms > Freedom of Speech Political Speech Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedom

A Florida driver license is a privately possessed card that displays compulsory information that is directly personal to the license-holder and thereby readily associated with the individual person whose face and name are on it. An identification card is personalized to such an extent that it is readily associated with the bearer. A Florida driver license is a forum in which a license holder, who has been convicted of a sexual offense, is compelled to disclose the fact of the criminal history against the holder's wishes. The compelled speech doctrine applies whether the government compels political speech or facts.

Constitutional Law Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms Freedom of Speech Scope of Freedom A compelled disclosure emblazoned on a driver license is a form of compelled speech subject to constitutional limitations.

The Florida legislature identified two goals for sexual predator laws: registration and notification. Both goals are substantially advanced by Florida's comprehensive registration and notification systems, by which the public can freely obtain information and emails about sexual offenders and predators who live in or move into their neighborhoods. The State clearly advances its compelling interest through these systems, which meet constitutional standards by disseminating information broadly without compelling speech by individual

registrants. Constitutional Law > Bill of Rights Fundamental Freedoms > Freedom of Speech > Scope of Freedom

Compelled use of the SEXUAL PREDATOR designation to the world at large is overbroad if a more narrow and functional means of communication is available. The point of strict scrutiny is that the government must

carefully tailor a compelled speech policy that is no broader than necessary to advance its interest in protecting the public. Not every situation calls for the compelled public disclosure that an individual has previously committed a sex crime.

Opinion

Opinion by:

MAKAR

Opinion

Makar, J.