JOHNNIE GETER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Johnnie Geter appealed eleven concurrent three-year sentences imposed following nolo contendere pleas to burglary and grand theft charges, arguing the trial court erred by deviating from sentencing guidelines that recommended a maximum of thirty months. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the sentences were valid because they fell within a negotiated plea agreement that included a three-year incarceration cap.
The sentences were valid and within the trial court's authority because they were imposed as part of a negotiated plea agreement that included an agreed-upon three-year incarceration cap. A bargained sentencing term need not specify a single fixed sentence to be enforceable; a range or cap agreed upon in plea negotiations is a valid bargained provision that can justify deviation from sentencing guidelines.
[1] A trial court may impose a sentence exceeding the recommended maximum under sentencing guidelines when the sentence is within the terms of a negotiated plea agreement.
[2] A plea agreement specifying a maximum sentence, rather than a single specified term, can serve as a valid predicate for disregarding general sentencing guidelines restric…
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Establishes that the three-year sentence cap was a negotiated term in the plea agreement, not merely a statutory maximum.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGeter entered nolo contendere pleas to eleven counts of burglary and grand theft and received eleven concurrent three-year sentences. The trial court …
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WENTWORTH, Judge.
This is an appeal from eleven three-year concurrent sentences imposed upon nolo contendere pleas to eleven counts charging burglaries and grand thefts. Appellant’s single contention here is that the trial court erred in deviating from the sentencing guidelines recommended maximum of thirty months incarceration. We affirm because we find the sentences were within the terms of a negotiated plea, and the record shows they were imposed “as a result of a plea conference-agreed upon cap of three years.”
Appellant argues applicability of the decision in Coates v. State, 458 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), relating to a trial court’s advice, in the course of accepting a nolo plea to one count in exchange for the prosecutor’s agreement to nol pros of another count, that the plea to the second degree felony “would expose you to 15 years in the state penal system.” In Coates this court held, “[w]e do not construe this awareness on appellant’s part as an agreement as to his permissible sentence.” 458 So. 2d 1221. That decision is clearly limited to a determination that the stated maximum sentence was simply a statutory cap which was not in that case a negotiated item. In contrast, the plea agreement in the present case as to the three year cap was, as restated by the court, “an agreement ... up to that amount.” The bargained term need not, as appellant argues, be an agreement for a single specified term in order to serve as a bargained provision which, if otherwise valid, is a proper predicate for disregarding a general guidelines restriction. Accord Bell v. State, 453 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). Our conclusion on this point moots the remaining arguments as to alternative grounds stated by the court for the sentences imposed.
Affirmed.
ERVIN and BARFIELD, JJ., concur.
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State v. Collins, 482 So. 2d 388 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)…use of the incomplete transcript of the sentencing hearing this court was unaware that the state attorney had agreed to a downward departure. Even though we do not encourage sentence bargaining this factor changes the entire picture. Geter v. State, 473 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (plea agreement is proper predicate for disregarding general guidelines restriction); Scott v. State, 465 So. 2d 1359 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985) (departure from guidelines based on prior plea agreement was proper); Bell v. State, 453 So…
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Benny Ray Smith v. State, 529 So. 2d 1106 (Fla. 1988)…es sentence. “The bargained term need not ... be an agreement for a single specified term in order to serve as a bargained provision which, if otherwise valid, is a proper predicate for disregarding a general guidelines restriction.” Geter v. State, 473 So. 2d 31, 32 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Once a plea agreement is negotiated which specifies the permissible sentence, the agreement is binding and is sufficient without any stated reasons to justify a departure from the presumptive sentence. We find that Smith fr…
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Lawson v. State, 497 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)…that a negotiated plea which includes an agreement to a sentence in excess of the sentencing guidelines constitutes a clear and convincing reason for departure from the guidelines. White v. State, 489 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Geter v. State, 473 So. 2d 31 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Second, we agree with the assertion made by the Assistant Public Defender in his Anders brief that a score-sheet seems unnecessary in a situation where all the parties have agreed upon a negotiated sentence. However, we certify…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Bell v. State, 453 So. 2d 478 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)
- William "Doc" Coates v. State, 458 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)