LEONARD JENNINGS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1986-12-23
No. BL-199
MILLS and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.
498 So. 2d 1373 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1986) Caution
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.

Synopsis

Jennings appealed his sentences imposed under Florida's mask enhancement statute, arguing that the statute, like the habitual offender statute, should only increase penalties without reclassifying the degree of the offense. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the mask statute explicitly requires reclassification of offenses to the next higher degree for sentencing purposes, distinguishing it from the habitual offender statute.


Holding

The mask enhancement statute, unlike the habitual offender statute, explicitly requires that each offense be punishable as if reclassified upward to the next higher degree. The trial court properly reclassified burglary of a dwelling from a second degree to a first degree felony and aggravated assault from a third degree to a second degree felony pursuant to the mask statute.


Headnotes

[1] A statute enhancing penalties for committing an offense while masked requires reclassification of the offense to the next higher degree for sentencing purposes.

[2] The habitual offender statute, unlike the mask enhancement statute, does not permit reclassification of the degree of crimes but only increases the penalty.

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Key Quotes

“However on its face, § 775.0845, Florida Statutes (1985), the mask statute, reveals language that distinguishes it from the habitual offender statute. The language of the mask statute requires that each offense, i.e., misdemeanor or felony, shall be punishable as if it were reclassified upward as an offense of the next higher degree.”

Establishes the critical distinction between the mask statute and habitual offender statute regarding reclassification of offense degrees.

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Facts & Procedural History

Jennings was charged with and found guilty of burglary of a dwelling with assault while masked, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon while masked, …

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Opinion of the Court
JOANOS, Judge.

JOANOS, Judge.

Jennings appeals his sentences which are based on the mask enhancement statute. We affirm.

Appellant was charged with burglary of a dwelling with an assault while masked; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon while masked; battery while masked and exhibiting sexual organs while masked. Appellant was found guilty as charged on all counts.

The record contained two sentencing guidelines sheets: one based on a category 5 burglary offense, reflecting a total of 96 points and calling for a sentence of 3⅝ to 4V2 years; and the second sheet based on the primary offense, a category 4 aggravated assault, reflecting 196 points and calling for a prison sentence of 4V2 to 5½ years. The court did not indicate which of the two scoresheets it used to impose the following sentences: 5 years in prison for aggravated assault, 4 years in prison for burglary, 1 year for battery, and 1 year for the misdemeanor, all to run concurrently-

Appellant argues that the lower court erred by reclassifying the degree of aggravated assault and battery upward based on the fact that appellant wore a mask while committing these felonies.

Appellant contends that the mask statute, like the habitual offender statute, does not require reclassification of the degree of crimes, but only increases the penalty.

We disagree. Appellant is only correct in stating that the habitual offender status pursuant to § 775.084, Florida Statutes (1985) does not permit the reclassifying of crimes upward for scoresheet purposes. The statute’s language clearly reveals that only the penalty is enhanced, i.e., in terms of years. The degree of offense remains the same. See Cuthbert v. State, 459 So. 2d 1098 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), pet. for rev. denied 467 So. 2d 1000 (Fla.1985); Hall v. State, 483 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).

However on its face, § 775.0845, Florida Statutes (1985), the mask statute, reveals language that distinguishes it from the habitual offender statute. The language of the mask statute requires that each offense, i.e., misdemeanor or felony, shall be punishable as if it were reclassified upward as an offense of the next higher degree.

Therefore for example, the trial court was correct in reclassifying appellant’s act of burglary of a dwelling, a second degree felony, to a first degree felony, because during the commission of the offense appellant was wearing a “device that concealed his identity.” Section 775.0845(4), Florida Statutes (1985). See also Dominguez v. State, 461 So. 2d 277 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).

As the State suggests, the Florida Supreme Court has adopted committee note (d)(10) to Rule 3.701, Fla.R.Crim.P. which explains that if an offender is convicted under an enhancement statute, the reclassified degree should be used as the basis for scoring the primary offense in the appropriate category. The note goes on to distinguish the habitual offender statute where the maximum allowable sentence is increased as provided by operation of statute. See The Florida Bar: Amendment to Rules of Criminal Procedure, 468 So. 2d 220, 225 (Fla.1985).

We find that the scoresheets were not prepared in error. Also the trial judge correctly based appellant’s sentence on the primary offense of aggravated assault with a knife while masked, which was accurately reclassified from a third degree to a second degree felony pursuant to Section 775.0845(3), Florida Statutes (1985), and recommended the most severe sentence of five years incarceration. See Rule 3.701(d)(3)(b), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. We further find that, although the trial court erroneously had two score-sheets before it at sentencing, under these circumstances where the penalty actually imposed reflects the sentence as based on the primary offense, which was correctly enhanced by the mask statute, any error arising from the presence of two score-sheets before the lower court is harmless.

Therefore we affirm the sentences.

AFFIRMED.

MILLS and SHIVERS, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Hoefert v. State, 509 So. 2d 1090 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
    …OONOVER and FRANK, JJ., concur. . Again, our colleagues on the First District Court of Appeal have addressed that problem and clearly pointed out the difference between a reclassification statute and a pure enhancement statute in Jennings v. State, 498 So. 2d 1373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).…
  • Cabal v. State, 678 So. 2d 315 (Fla. 1996)
    …e to that of a first-degree felony rather than that of a second-degree felony. In a one-sentence opinion, the district court in this case summarily affirmed the sentence, relying on the First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Jennings v. State, 498 So. 2d 1373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), but certified conflict with Woods, Archibald, and Spicer. In [*317] Jennings, the First District Court of Appeal determined that section 775.0845 requires that an offense coming under the statute “shall be punishable as if it we…
  • Jeffrie K. Avery v. State, 505 So. 2d 596 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
    …lassification was clearly in error as the habitual offender statute “does not reclassify crimes as higher substantive crimes; it merely prescribes longer penalties.” Dominguez v. State, 461 So. 2d 277 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). See also Jennings v. State, 498 So. 2d 1373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986). The trial court also failed to state specific reasons why the imposition of the appellant’s sentence under the habitual offender statute was “necessary for the protection of the public from further criminal activity by the defe…

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