STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE,
v.
JAMES TAYLOR, APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT
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James Taylor was convicted of trafficking in cannabis and sentenced under Florida's mandatory minimum sentencing statute. The trial court sua sponte mitigated the mandatory sentence to four months jail plus probation without a motion from the State Attorney. The Fourth District affirmed the conviction but reversed the sentence mitigation, holding that only the State Attorney may move for sentence mitigation in trafficking cases.
A trial court has no authority to mitigate a mandatory minimum sentence in trafficking cases sua sponte. Only the State Attorney may move for sentence mitigation under the statutory scheme, and such mitigation is available only when the convicted person provides substantial assistance in identifying, arresting, or convicting accomplices or co-conspirators.
[1] A trial court cannot sua sponte mitigate a mandatory minimum sentence provided by statute, absent specific statutory authorization.
[2] Mitigation of a mandatory minimum sentence under Section 893.135(3), Florida Statutes, requires a motion by the State Attorney.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the Legislature authorized trial courts to mitigate a mandatory sentence upon motion by the State Attorney if the convicted person provides substantial assistance in the identification, arrest, or conviction of any of his accomplices, accessories, co-conspirators, or principals”
Establishes the statutory requirement that only the State Attorney may move for sentence mitigation in trafficking cases
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJames Taylor was found guilty of trafficking in cannabis in excess of 100 pounds in Okeechobee County. A presentence investigation showed Taylor had a…
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DOWNEY, Judge.
Appellee James Taylor was found guilty in Okeechobee County of trafficking in cannabis in excess of 100 pounds in violation of Section 893.135(l)(a)l, Florida Statutes (Supp.1980). After a presentence investigation, which apparently showed that Taylor had a good reputation in Osceola County, where he lived, the trial court sentenced him to three years imprisonment and a fine of $25,000 in accordance with the mandatory provision of Section 893.135(l)(a). Then sua sponte the court mitigated the sentence so that Taylor would serve four months in the county jail and then be on probation for three years. The court left the $25,000 fine in effect. From that mitigated sentence the State has perfected this appeal and Taylor has cross-appealed. We have seriously considered all of the questions presented by the cross-appeal and find no reversible error shown in the trial of the case. The only error reflected in the record occurred in the sentencing process.
In enacting the trafficking statute, Section 893.135, the Legislature provided that for the various crimes included therein mandatory minimum prison sentences should be imposed. However, as part of the legislative scheme to stem trafficking in drugs the Legislature authorized trial courts to mitigate a mandatory sentence upon motion by the State Attorney if the convicted person provides substantial assistance in the identification, arrest, or conviction of any of his accomplices, accessories, co-conspirators, or principals. § 893.135(3), Fla.Stat. (Supp.1980). No further authority is reposed in the trial court to mitigate a mandatory minimum sentence in trafficking cases.
In the present case the court mitigated the mandatory minimum sentence sua sponte. The record reflects no appropriate motion by the State Attorney.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of conviction involved in the cross-appeal and reverse the order mitigating appellee’s mandatory minimum sentence as originally imposed by the trial court, without prejudice upon remand to the filing of a proper motion to mitigate under Section 893.135(3), should the State Attorney be so disposed.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART, and remanded with directions.
BERANEK and DELL, JJ., concur.
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Cited By (14 total)
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Nova v. State, 439 So. 2d 255 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)…Legislature has prescribed a mandatory sentence, a trial court is not empowered to impose any lesser sentence. State v. Sesler, 386 So. 2d 293, 294 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980); see also State v. De La Rosa, 414 So. 2d 26 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); State v. Taylor, 411 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). Of course, this is not to suggest that a court will condone the State’s repudiation of its agreement, see James v. State, 305 So. 2d 829 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), but merely to state that when the agreement is one which cannot be leg…
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Cherry v. State, 439 So. 2d 998 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)…nstitution’s concept of separation of powers. Id. The participation of the state attorney is legally required under the statutory scheme under which defendant was charged, for a court may not reduce the statutory minimum sua sponte, State v. Taylor, 411 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). As the prosecutor realized, however, once a petition for reduction of the minimum has been filed under Section 893.135(3), the sentence is in the trial court’s discretion. Benitez, 395 So. 2d at 519. That the petition was made o…
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State v. Bateman, 423 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982)…e years. It is settled that, absent a motion by the state attorney pursuant to subsection (3) of section 893.135 for a reduction of sentence, the sentencing court lacks the authority under subsection (3) to reduce the sentence. See State v. Taylor, 411 So. 2d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). Appellee raises two arguments: He asserts initially that subsection (3), so read, erodes the separation of powers doctrine by vesting the executive branch with powers allocated to the judicial branch. In State v. Benitez, 395 S…
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