HENRY JAMES EARLY, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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.
The court held that the trial court improperly denied the defendant's motion to correct an illegal sentence based on an invalid departure from sentencing guidelines.
The defendant was sentenced to thirty years for armed robbery, an improper departure from the guidelines range of nine to twelve years. The reasons fo…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Illegal Sentence cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal by the defendant Henry James Early from a denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence under Fla.R. Crim.P. 3.800(a). We reverse based on the following briefly stated legal analysis.
First, the defendant Early was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for armed robbery, which sentence was an improper departure from the sentencing guidelines range of nine to twelve years imprisonment. The reasons given by the trial court for departing from the guidelines were that (1) the defendant was a habitual offender under Section 775.084, Florida Statutes (1985), an admittedly invalid ground for a sentencing guidelines departure, Whitehead v. State, 498 So. 2d 863 (Fla.1986), and (2) the victim suffered psychological trauma, also an invalid ground absent proof — and there was none in this case — that the trauma suffered was greater than that ordinarily suffered by the victim of a robbery. Lumpkin v. State, 510 So. 2d 1164, 1165 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); see State v. Rousseau, 509 So. 2d 281, 283-85 (Fla.1987).
Second, an unlawful sentencing guidelines departure sentence, as here, may be corrected either upon a post-conviction motion to correct sentence under Fla.R.Crim. P. 3.800(a) or a post-conviction motion to vacate sentence under Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. Watkins v. State, 498 So. 2d 576 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986); contra Lowe v. State, 501 So. 2d 712 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Carter v. State, 491 So. 2d 1288 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Wahl v. State, 460 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984).
We, accordingly, reverse the order under review and remand the cause to the trial court with directions to set aside the unlawful thirty-year sentence imposed on the defendant and to resentence the defendant within the sentencing guidelines range of nine to twelve years imprisonment.
Reversed and remanded.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Johnson v. State, 543 So. 2d 1289 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)…uant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800 as amended in State v. Whitfield, 487 So. 2d 1045 (Fla.1986). Id. at 966 (emphasis added). The appealability of rule 3.800(a) denials finds additional support in the following cases: Early v. State, 516 So. 2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Orsi v. State, 515 So. 2d 268 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Dupont v. State, 514 So. 2d 1159 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Schneider v. State, 512 So. 2d 308 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Brown v. State, 510 So. 2d 1150 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Brown v. State, 50…
-
Yates v. State, 556 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…on was untimely under Rule 3.850 and that the court previously denied a similar motion. We reverse and remand. In challenging the legality of a sentence, motions filed pursuant to either Rule 3.800(a) or 3.850 are equally valid. See Early v. State, 516 So. 2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (involving a challenge to a departure sentence). And, a motion that alleges an illegal sentence is cognizable under Rule 3.800(a) without any time limitation and without the formal compliance with the requirements of Rule 3.850. D…
-
Deese v. State, 530 So. 2d 384 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)…988). There is, no doubt, a certain amount of overlap between rules 3.800 and 3.850. We note that two district courts of appeal have ruled a motion filed under rule 3.800(a) may be used to correct an unlawful guidelines sentence. In Early v. State, 516 So. 2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), the defendant was given a departure sentence based on habitual offender status and psychological trauma to the victim. The defendant filed a motion to correct his illegal sentence under rule 3.800(a), arguing that the reasons for…
Previewing 3 of 9 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Whitehead v. State, 498 So. 2d 863 (Fla. 1986)
- State v. Rousseau, 509 So. 2d 281 (Fla. 1987)
- Wahl v. State, 460 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)
- Lumpkin v. State, 510 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)
- Marianela Caceres v. Milton, 498 So. 2d 576 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)
- Watkins v. State, 498 So. 2d 576 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)
- Lowe v. State, 501 So. 2d 712 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
- Carter v. State, 491 So. 2d 1288 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986)