WILLIAM EDWARD FOREMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1986-12-03
No. 86-352
GRIMES, A.C.J., and SCHOONOVER, J., concur.
498 So. 2d 601 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1986)

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Synopsis

William Edward Foreman was convicted of burglary and sexual battery and sentenced to 12 years concurrent sentences with downward departures from sentencing guidelines. The appellate court vacated the sentences because each of the trial court's stated reasons for departure failed to meet the "clear and convincing" evidentiary standard required by Florida law.


Holding

Each of the trial court's stated reasons for departure was legally insufficient under the "clear and convincing" test. The sentences were vacated and the case remanded for resentencing within the presumptive guideline ranges.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court may not depart from sentencing guidelines based on factors that are elements of the offense charged.

[2] Prior convictions that have been scored in determining the presumptive sentence cannot be used as a reason for departure from sentencing guidelines.

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Key Quotes

“Each ground asserted by the trial court as a reason for departure is outside the acceptable standard for an enhanced sentence — the "clear and convincing" test in Rule 3.701(d)(ll) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.”

Establishes the legal standard and indicates all stated reasons failed to meet it

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Facts & Procedural History

Foreman committed burglary and sexual battery crimes prior to October 1, 1983. The sexual battery involved a threat of force or violence. Foreman affi…

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Opinion of the Court
FRANK, Judge.

FRANK, Judge.

The appellant, William Edward Foreman, was before us in Foreman v. State, 458. So. 2d 1213 (Fla.2d DCA 1984), and is here again following remand from the supreme court in State v. Foreman, 476 So. 2d 662 (Fla.1985). He has been properly convicted for burglary and a sexual battery which occurred during the burglary. The present matter involves the sentences imposed upon him.

Foreman’s crimes were committed prior to October 1, 1983. He affirmatively elected to be sentenced pursuant to the guidelines. The trial court departed from the ranges prescribed for a category 2 sexual offense and a category 5 burglary and imposed 12 year concurrent sentences relying upon the following reasons for departure.

1. Threats of death.

2. Psychological or emotional trauma.

3. Female victimized at night.

4. Prior sex crime.

5. Hazard and danger to the community-

Each ground asserted by the trial court as a reason for departure is outside the acceptable standard for an enhanced sentence — the “clear and convincing” test in Rule 3.701(d)(ll) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.

The amended information in Count I charged Foreman with a sexual battery associated with a threat of force or violence in violation of section 794.011(4)(b). An element of that crime is the threat of a violent act “likely to cause serious personal injury on the victim” such that the victim reasonably believes the actor capable of executing the threat. Foreman’s conviction on this count has embedded within it the “threat of death”; that ground is invalidated by State v. Cote, 487 So. 2d 1039 (Fla.1986) and State v. Mischler, 488 So. 2d 523 (Fla.1986). Similarly, Hendrix v. State, 475 So. 2d 1218 (Fla.1985), bars Foreman’s prior sex crime as a reason for departure; it was scored in determining the presumptive sentence. For parallel reasons, the trial court’s use of psychological or emotional trauma is erroneous; “all sexual battery cases inflict emotional hardship on the victim.” Lerma v. State, 497 So. 2d . 736, (Fla.1986).

The fact that Foreman’s criminal activities occurred at night is an insufficient reason for departure from the guidelines. We do not agree with the implication the state extracts from our decision in Parker v. State, 478 So. 2d 823 (Fla.2d DCA 1985), in support of the view that because the crimes occurred at night enhancement of Foreman’s sentence was justified. Parker alludes to the fact, incorporated in the departure reasons, that the crime was committed at night. Our decision in that case, however, neither involved nor turned on that element but focused on other aspects of the departure process. Hence, it cannot be said we approved, and we do not now approve, that fact as a “clear and convincing” reason for departure. See Chandler v. State, 490 So. 2d 221 (Fla.2d DCA 1986).

Finally, characterizing Foreman as a “hazard and danger to the community” will not sustain departure. Reid v. State, 488 So. 2d 913 (Fla.2d DCA 1986).

Accordingly, we vacate the sentences imposed upon Foreman and remand this matter for resentencing. Because we have found each of the reasons for departure invalid, the trial court, upon resentencing, is to confine the sentences to the guidelines’ presumptive ranges.

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


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