GROVER CLEVELAND ELLIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1989-02-09
No. 88-825
SMITH, C.J., and ERVIN, J., concur.
538 So. 2d 118 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1989) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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

Grover Cleveland Ellis appealed the denial of his postconviction motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel based on alleged coercion into guilty pleas. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's denial but noted without deciding a potential sentencing error issue involving an incorrectly scored guidelines scoresheet, directing Ellis to pursue that claim through the proper procedural vehicle.


Holding

The trial court properly denied the ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on competent substantial evidence. The appellate court declined to address the sentencing scoresheet error on appeal, finding the issue had not been properly presented to the trial court through the appropriate procedural motion.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant may challenge an illegal sentence by filing a motion in the trial court pursuant to Fla.R.Cr.P. …

[2] A sentence is illegal if it is beyond the range of a correctly scored sentencing guidelines scoresheet and the court has not stated clear and convincing departure reasons…

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Key Quotes

“a sentence which, although appearing to be within the guidelines range under the scoresheet relied upon by the sentencing court, is actually beyond the range under a correctly scored scoresheet is an illegal sentence where the court has not stated clear and convincing departure reasons”

Establishes the legal standard for determining when a sentence is illegal due to scoresheet error, citing State v. Whitfield

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Facts & Procedural History

Ellis was charged with two counts of capital sexual battery. He pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of attempted sexual battery on each count. His se…

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Opinion of the Court
NIMMONS, Judge.

NIMMONS, Judge.

Grover Cleveland Ellis appeals from the denial of his 3.850 postconviction motion. Basically, appellant, who was charged with two counts of capital sexual battery, alleged that his court-appointed counsel harassed and coerced him into pleading guilty in each count to the lesser offense of attempted sexual battery and that he therefore was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion. We find that there is competent substantial evidence to support the denial of appellant’s motion and therefore affirm.

However, we wish to mention — without deciding — an issue which counsel for appellant has attempted to raise on appeal, a matter not raised in appellant’s pro se 3.850 motion.

Appellant contends that his sentence was illegal because, although the appellant was sentenced within the range called for by the number of points reflected on his scoresheet, the scoresheet was fundamentally and patently flawed by reason of the primary offense at conviction being scored as a life felony instead of a first degree felony.1 The appropriate vehicle for attacking a sentence on such grounds is a motion filed in the trial court pursuant to Fla.R.Cr.P. 3.8002. Under State v. Whitfield, 487 So. 2d 1045 (Fla.1986), a sentence which, although appearing to be within the guidelines range under the scoresheet relied upon by the sentencing court, is actually beyond the range under a correctly scored scoresheet is an illegal sentence where the court has not stated clear and convincing departure reasons.

The state’s response to appellant’s above contention that his sentence was illegal is that this was a negotiated plea and that it was not necessary to state reasons for departure even if the scoresheet were erroneously calculated. But the state oversimplifies the “agreement.” The written plea agreement, in addition to providing for the above referred pleas to the two lesser included offenses of attempted sexual battery, included the following written notation: “... stipulate that my sentencing guideline score is 344 points (9-12 years) and to not oppose me being sentenced pursuant to the guideline recommended sentence.” As earlier noted, the scoresheet erroneously scored the offenses as life felonies. If the offenses had been properly scored, the applicable guidelines sentence range would have been 7-9 years. The defendant was sentenced to a total of 12 years (two 6-year sentences, to run consecutively).

We decline to address the above issue. We do not believe it appropriate for us, in this appeal, to attempt to answer such questions as whether the facts surrounding the pleas in the instant case would support a conclusion that the negotiations amounted to a binding agreement for the defendant to be sentenced to a term of up to 12 years. The issue has not been presented as yet to the trial court.

Our affirmance of the appealed order is, therefore, without prejudice to the appellant’s presenting in the trial court a proper motion under Rule 3.800. Any question of whether the plea agreement would render moot the apparent error in the guidelines scoresheet computations may be raised in connection with such proceeding.

AFFIRMED.

SMITH, C.J., and ERVIN, J., concur. . The attempt to commit a Section 794.011(2) sexual battery does indeed appear to be a first degree felony instead of a life felony. Section 777.04(4)(a), Florida Statutes.

. Rule 3.800(a) provides:

(a) A court may at any time correct an illegal sentence imposed by it or an incorrect calculation made by it in a sentencing guidelines scoresheet.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Hammond v. State, 591 So. 2d 1119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …additional offenses, legal status, and victim injury. We reverse. A motion to correct illegal sentence, pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.800(a), is the appropriate vehicle to attack an alleged illegal sentence based on scoresheet error. Ellis v. State, 538 So. 2d 118, 119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). Rule 3.800(a) provides: “A court may at any time correct an illegal sentence imposed by it or an incorrect calculation made by it in a sentencing guidelines scoresheet.” Scoresheet error which results in a de facto departur…
    1 / 2

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