CARLOS M. FABELO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1986-05-23
No. 85-166
GRIMES, A.C.J., and SANDERLIN, J., concur.
488 So. 2d 915 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1986) Positive Treatment
Cited by 12 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

Sentences are vacated and remanded for resentencing within the guidelines because the trial court departed from the sentencing guidelines without stating clear and convincing reasons supported by the record.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court may not depart from sentencing guidelines based on factors relating to prior arrests without conviction.

[2] A trial court may not depart from sentencing guidelines based on factors relating to the instant offenses for which convictions have not been obtained.

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Appellant pled guilty to accessory after the fact and carrying a concealed firearm, receiving probation. After alleged probation violations, the court…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SCHEB, Judge.

SCHEB, Judge.

This is a sentencing guidelines case. We vacate appellant’s sentences because the court departed from the guidelines without stating clear and convincing reasons.

Appellant pled guilty to the charge of accessory after the fact and was placed on probation for five years. Shortly thereafter, he pled guilty to carrying a concealed firearm and received three years’ probation to run concurrently with the earlier probation. Later, affidavits were filed charging appellant with violating his probation by delivery and possession of cannabis.

Following a hearing, the trial judge found that appellant was in violation of his probation. The court sentenced him for the substantive crimes of accessory after the fact and carrying a concealed firearm. The charges for possession and delivery of cannabis were subsequently dropped.

Appellant elected to be sentenced under the guidelines. However, at sentencing, the judge said he was not going to follow the recommended guidelines sentence. Instead, he sentenced appellant to serve five years in prison on each count with the terms to run consecutively.

The trial judge entered a written order setting forth his reasons for departure. The order contains an account of appellant’s prior record, factors relating to the accessory after the fact charge and the carrying a concealed firearm incident, as well as the circumstances leading up to the charges of delivery and possession of cannabis. Additionally, the order states the following:

This Court hereby exceeds the sentencing guidelines ... because of the pattern of continuing criminal activity of the defendant, Carlos Fabelo, and to protect the community from Carlos Fabelo. Also, this Court departs from the sentencing guidelines due to the fact that the new crimes occurred while the defendant was on probation. This shows a lack of respect for law and order in society-

Appellant argues that none of the court’s expressed reasons are valid grounds for departure. We agree.

Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701(d)(ll) provides that reasons for deviation from the guidelines “shall not include factors relating to prior arrests without conviction” or “factors relating to the instant offenses for which convictions have not been obtained.” The facts of the accessory after the fact and carrying a concealed firearm convictions do not demonstrate circumstances beyond those generally associated with perpetration of such crimes. Hence, the court’s reasons for departure relating to these facts are invalid.

Under certain egregious circumstances, a trial court may depart from the recommendation of the guidelines based on a finding that a defendant has exhibited an escalating pattern of criminal activity. See Patty v. State, 486 So. 2d 16 (Fla.1986); Dohn v. State, 482 So. 2d 564 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Keen v. State, 481 So. 2d 1274 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Booker v. State, 482 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). However, such a finding must be factually supported in the record. State v. Mischler, 488 So. 2d 523 (Fla.1986); Brown v. State, 483 So. 2d 857 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). We find that the record in the instant case contains insufficient facts to indicate a pattern of criminality.

Also, in accordance with the supreme court’s ruling in Hendrix v. State, 475 So. 2d 1218 (Fla.1985), mere recitation of appellant’s prior record is insufficient to support a deviation from the guidelines.

As for the court’s departure based on a need to “protect the community from Carlos Fabelo,” this is clearly invalid and unsupported by the record. See Scott v. State, 484 So. 2d 100 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Fowler v. State, 482 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Lorenzo v. State, 483 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986).

Finally, the factors surrounding the new charges of delivery and possession of cannabis are invalid grounds for departure as they relate to offenses for which no convictions were obtained. Fowler v. State, Nunez v. State, 482 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Moreover, we reject the written reason that these new charges occurred while the defendant was on probation, thereby showing a “lack of respect for law and order in society.” Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.701(d)(14); see also Tillman v. State, 482 So. 2d 603 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Clark v. State, 481 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986).

Since all of the court’s reasons for departure are invalid, we vacate appellant’s sentences and remand for resentencing within the guidelines. Edwards v. State, 482 So. 2d 553 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). We note that no scoresheet appears in the record on appeal. On remand, the court shall ensure that a proper scoresheet has been prepared so that the court may sentence appellant within the appropriate recommended range.

GRIMES, A.C.J., and SANDERLIN, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Jakubowski v. State, 494 So. 2d 277 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)
    …surrounding circumstances, is a valid departure reason, citing F.R.Crim.P. 3.701(b)(3), there was no evidence in the instant case concerning a pattern of escalating convictions and thus this cannot be a valid reason for departure. Fabello v. State, 488 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Unfortunately, the trial court used both valid and invalid reasons for departure from the sentencing guidelines. We cannot determine whether the court would have departed absent the invalid reasons and therefore we must remand t…
  • Nivaldo Echevarria v. State, 492 So. 2d 1146 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)
    …us circumstances a trial court may depart from the guidelines sentence based on a finding that a defendant has exhibited an escalating pattern of criminal activity, the record under consideration does not support such a finding. See Fabelo v. State, 488 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). The trial court erroneously considered that Echevarria fired a gun, an offense with which Echevarria was not charged, see Whitfield v. State, 490 So. 2d 1358 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986), and Echevarria’s involvement with the cocaine labo…
  • Pittman v. State, 492 So. 2d 741 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)
    …lso the following cases: Jones v. State, 490 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986) (the court affirmed departure, one of the reasons being "the increasing seriousness and violence of the acts for which the Defendant has been convicted”); Fabelo v. State, 488 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986) ("under certain egregious circumstances”, a departure may be based on a finding of "an escalating pattern of criminal activity,” but the record failed to support such a finding); Ballard v. State, 11 F.L.W. 1179 (Fla. 4th DCA May…

Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (16 total)

View all 16 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw