Carlos J. Acevedo, Petitioner v. State of Florida, Respondent

Summary

The Court held that a prior conviction under the 1981 version of Florida's lewd-and-lascivious-offense statute was a similar offense under the Dangerous Sexual Felony Offender Act because the Act requires similar, not identical, elements. It therefore approved the Fourth District's decision upholding Acevedo's dangerous-sexual-felony-offender designation and disapproved the conflicting decision to the extent inconsistent with that rule. Justice Pariente, concurring in result, would have found the designation erroneous but deemed the error harmless because a life sentence could have been imposed without it.