JAMES E. JOHNSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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James Johnson appeals the summary denial of his motion for postconviction relief challenging the voluntariness of his guilty plea. The court reverses, finding that Johnson made a prima facie showing that his plea was involuntary because he was misinformed about the applicable sentencing guidelines, which undermined his understanding of the plea bargain's value.
Johnson's plea was involuntary because he did not have a full understanding of the consequences of his plea bargain due to misinformation about the guideline sentencing range. The case is remanded for further consideration to determine whether Johnson actually had nothing to lose by refusing the plea, as the state may have declined to pursue other charges in exchange for the plea.
[1] A motion to vacate a plea under rule 3.850 is distinct from a motion to mitigate a sentence under rule 3.800, and the bar on successive motions under rule 3.850 does not…
[2] A plea is not voluntary if the accused is not made aware of the consequences of accepting or foregoing the plea bargain offered.
Previewing 2 of 4 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“Before a plea of guilty may be considered entirely voluntary, the accused must be made aware of the consequences of accepting or foregoing the plea bargain offered.”
Establishes the legal standard for voluntary guilty pleas, requiring knowledge of plea bargain consequences.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJohnson is serving a thirteen-year sentence for drug offenses following a negotiated guilty plea. His attorney and the trial judge relied on a scoresh…
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RYDER, Judge.
James Johnson appeals from the summary denial of his motion for postconviction relief. We reverse.
Johnson is serving a total of thirteen years in prison for several drug offenses, the result of a negotiated plea. He now claims that the plea was involuntary. Specifically, he states that his attorney led him to believe the recommended guideline sentence fell into the seventeen to twenty-two year range, and thus he was the recipient of a particularly good deal by pleading for thirteen years. In fact, the scoresheet relied upon by both counsel and the trial judge was incorrectly totalled, and the proper recommended sentence should have been twelve to seventeen years. Johnson now believes that he would have lost little or nothing by going to trial on the cases, and asserts that he would have gone to trial but for the misrepresentation.
The lower court denied the motion partly because Johnson had made a similar claim in a previous motion. However, the first motion sought only to have the sentence mitigated, pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800, whereas the present motion seeks to vacate the plea (rule 3.850). Thus the bar on successive motions established by rule 3.850 is inapplicable.
As to the merits of Johnson’s motion, the court found that Johnson was not prejudiced because he still received the sentence for which he bargained. This overlooks the basic thrust of his argument. We believe Johnson has presented a prima facie showing that the plea was entered without a full understanding of the possible choices available to him. Before a plea of guilty may be considered entirely voluntary, the accused must be made aware of the consequences of accepting or foregoing the plea bargain offered. Ward v. State, 433 So. 2d 1221 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). Johnson has plainly alleged that his plea was grounded in a desire to avoid a longer sentence. Given the considerable presumption that the guideline recommendation is the appropriate sentence, Williams v. State, 500 So. 2d 501 (Fla.1986), that harsher penalty would have been highly likely had the scoresheet been correct. Similarly, a sentence in the same general range as that actually imposed reasonably could be expected based on the scoresheet as correctly added. While thirteen years is closer to the bottom than the top of the guideline range, it is not quite the windfall Johnson says he was led to expect.
Thus we must remand this case for further consideration, following the procedures set out in rule 3.850. It may be that the files and records in this case, or if need be an evidentiary hearing, will refute Johnson’s assertion that he had nothing to lose by refusing the sentence offered by the state. For example, the state may have declined to pursue other charges in exchange for the plea, such that Johnson might have faced an even harsher penalty had he lost at trial. However, based on the record presently before us it does appear that Johnson has given up a fundamental constitutional right under circumstances that on their face involve misinformation, albeit unintentional.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
SCHEB, A.C.J., and THREADGILL, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Simmons v. State, 611 So. 2d 1250 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…involves only the withholding of future gain time. . It has been suggested that serious guideline-related miscalculations, much like erroneous representations regarding gain time, can constitute ineffective assistance. See, e.g., Johnson v. State, 523 So. 2d 755 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988). . There are various forms of discretionary gain time established by § 944.275(4) which, unlike “basic” gain time, can be awarded even to habitual offenders. See § 775.084(4)(e), Fla.Stat. (1991).…
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Silas v. Morris, 605 So. 2d 511 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…1), Fla.Stat. (1991). . The underlying offense is also lewd assault. § 800.04, Fla.Stat. (1975, 1991). . A specific promise of a guideline or below-guideline sentence may be violated by the utilization of an incorrect scoresheet. Johnson v. State, 523 So. 2d 755 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988), and see Cannon v. State, 548 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). . Additionally, as noted above, the trial court should consider whether Leverett is estopped from raising the Karchesky issue.…
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Beasley v. State, 605 So. 2d 959 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…When entering his plea Beasley agreed to the specific length of the sentence. Although the plea form states “this is a below guidelines plea,” it is not clear that downward departure was an essential component of the agreement. Cf. Johnson v. State, 523 So. 2d 755 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988). Rather, this notation more likely was intended only to explain why the trial court was not bound by the guideline recommendation. Certain of the charges initially were filed as capital felonies, then reduced when Beasley agreed t…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Williams v. State, 500 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1986)
- Ward v. State, 433 So. 2d 1221 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)