Clyde Timothy Bunkley v. Florida (538 U.S. 835)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 27, 2003 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 538 U.S. 835 · 123 S. Ct. 2020
- Decided
- May 27, 2003
- Term
- October Term 2002
- Vote
- 6–3
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. Clyde Timothy Bunkley petitions for a writ of certiorari, arguing that the Florida Supreme Court contradicted the principles of this Court’s decision in Fiore v. White, 531 U. S. 225 (2001) (per curiam), when it failed to determine whether the “common pocketknife” exception to Florida’s definition of a ‘“[w]eapon’” encompassed Bunkley’s pocketknife at the time that his conviction became final in 1989. Fla. Stat. §790.001(13) (2000). We agree, and therefore grant Bunkley’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis and his petition for a writ of certiorari. 1=1 In the early morning hours of April 16,1986, Bunkley burglarized a closed, unoccupied Western Sizzlin’ Restaurant. Report and Recommendation in No. 91-113-CIV-T-99(B) (MD Fla.), p. 1. The police arrested him after he left the restaurant. At the time of his arrest, the police discovered a “pocketknife, with a blade of 2V¿ to 3 inches in length, . . . folded and in his pocket.” 768 So. 2d 510 (Fla. App. 2000) (per curiam). “There is no evidence indicating Bunkley ever used the pocketknife during the burglary, nor that he threatened anyone with the pocketknife at any time.” Ibid. Bunkley was charged with burglary in the first degree because he was armed with a “dangerous weapon” — namely, the pocketknife. Fla. Stat. § 810.02(2)(b) (2000). The punishment for burglary in the first degree is “imprisonment for a term of…
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