HENRY WILLIAMS, A/K/A BOBBY LEE, APPELLANT,
v.
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 appellant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on whether his guilty plea was voluntary, as the record does not conclusively show he understood the maximum possible penalties.
[1] A trial court must determine that a defendant understands the maximum possible penalty provided by law when determining the voluntariness of a guilty plea.
[2] An appellate court must reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing unless the record conclusively shows the appellant is entitled to no relief from his conviction and…
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 intelligenceAppellant pleaded guilty to probation violations and other charges, receiving consecutive and concurrent sentences. He moved for post-conviction relie…
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 Voluntariness Of Guilty Plea cases and more on FLexlaw
GARRETT, Judge.
The trial court summarily denied appellant’s motion for post-conviction relief.
Appellant pled guilty to violating his probation for burglary, grand theft and possession of a controlled substance. He also pled guilty to charges of dealing in stolen property and possession of cocaine. Appellant was sentenced to three consecutive maximum terms of five years for the probation violations and to maximum terms of fifteen years for dealing in stolen property and five years for possession of cocaine. All sentences were to run concurrently.
Appellant contends he “did not have a clear understanding of the ... length of sentence [he] was facing ... [he] believed if [his] probation was only for one year that the most [he] could be found guilty of and sentenced to was one year.” A trial judge when determining the voluntariness of a guilty plea must, among other things, determine that a defendant understands the maximum possible penalty provided by law. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.172(c)(i).
Unless the record conclusively shows appellant is entitled to no relief from his conviction and sentence, we must reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing. Fla.R.App.P. 9.140(g). The transcript attached to the state’s response reveals the word “maximum” was never mentioned during appellant’s plea colloquy. Accordingly, we find appellant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether his plea was voluntarily made with an understanding of the maximum possible penalties.
As to appellant’s remaining points, the record contains a sentencing guidelines scoresheet which conclusively shows the sentence appellant received did not exceed the recommended guideline sentence. Likewise, a further reading of the plea colloquy conclusively shows effective assistance of counsel as appellant acknowledged having the opportunity to talk to his attorney and being satisfied with the attorney’s advice.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT HEREWITH.
DOWNEY and POLEN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Marriott v. State, 582 So. 2d 728 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)…a and is therefore error for which the defendant must be afforded the opportunity to withdraw a plea of guilty. Id. at 1141, citing Green v. State, 406 So. 2d 1148 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), approved, 421 So. 2d 508 (FIa.1982). See also Williams v. State, 546 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). Accordingly, as the record does not show conclusively that the appellant is entitled to no relief, we reverse the order summarily denying post-conviction relief, and remand for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of whether the…