JEFFREY ALAN WEEKLEY, 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.
Jeffrey Weekley was convicted of four counts of sexual battery, kidnapping, and aggravated battery. On appeal, he challenged the sentencing court's scoring of victim injury points separately for each sexual battery count, arguing the injury should have been scored cumulatively only once under the 1987 amended Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701(d)(7).
The court agreed with the defendant that scoring victim injury points for each count was error under the 1987 version of the rule. The victim's injury should have been scored only once according to its cumulative severity. The sentence was vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.
[1] Under the 1987 version of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701(d)(7), victim injury points should be scored based on the cumulative severity of the victim's injury, r…
[2] When a criminal statute is susceptible of different interpretations, it must be construed in favor of the accused.
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“Victim injury shall be scored for each count in which victim injury is an element of the offense, whether there are one or more victims.”
Committee note to pre-1987 rule explicitly instructing separate scoring per count
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWeekley met a woman at a Miami Beach bar, forced her back to his apartment, and committed various acts of abuse upon her. He was convicted of four cou…
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 Victim Injury Points cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
The defendant was accused of meeting a woman at a Miami Beach bar, forcing her back to his apartment, and committing various acts of abuse upon her. He was found guilty of four counts of sexual battery, one count of kidnapping, and one count of aggravated battery. The trial court scored victim injury at forty points for each sexual battery for a total of one hundred and sixty points.
The defendant argues that under the 1987 version of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701(d)(7) scoring each injury or offense committed was error. He claims that the victim’s injury should have been scored only once according to its cumulative severity. We agree, vacate defendant’s sentence, and remand for resentencing.
Prior to the 1987 amended version of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701(d)(7), the computation of victim injury points was controlled by The Florida Bar re: Rules of Criminal Procedure, 482 So. 2d 311, 316 (1985) and this court’s decision in Walker v. State, 498 So. 2d 688 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). The committee note to that earlier rule stated:
Victim injury shall be scored for each count in which victim injury is an element of the offense, whether there are one or more victims.
The committee note relevant to Rule 3.701(d)(7) in the 1987 version of that rule, see Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure Re Sentencing Guidelines, 509 So. 2d 1088, 1089-90 (Fla.1987), omitted that same language. That note contained no language instructing the scoring of multiple victim injury points for separate counts relating to the same victim. The above statement as to the scoring of victim injury was not scored over — the editorial means used to indicate deletion. Here, the statement was simply omitted, which leads to the state's argument that no deliberate change in procedure was intended. Where a criminal statute is susceptible of different interpretations, it must be construed in favor of the accused. Lambert v. State, 545 So. 2d 838 (Fla.1989). Relying on Lambert, we conclude that the cumulative injury should have been considered and a single score assigned. We therefore vacate defendant’s sentence and remand on that basis.
We note that although the original sentence was within the range of sentences reflected by the original score sheet, because we find error in the original score sheet, upon remand for resentencing, the trial court is at liberty to impose a sentence in excess of the new guidelines range under the corrected score sheet. Roberts v. State, 547 So. 2d 129 (Fla.1989).
Accordingly, defendant’s sentence is vacated and the case is remanded for resentencing.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
-
Burrows v. State, 649 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)…ts for victim injury on the sentencing guidelines seoresheet, we are compelled to vacate the sentence. Victim injury points may not be assessed for each count of sexual battery where the offenses were committed on the same victim. Weekley v. State, 553 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Carter v. State, 573 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). The “victim injury” portion of the sentencing guidelines score-sheet form used here assigns 40 points for “penetration or slight injury.” The score-sheet indicates that 80 vict…
-
Carter v. State, 573 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)…heet for each of three sexual batteries committed against one victim during one criminal episode, contrary to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.701 d.7. (1988), which limited such scoring to “each victim,” not to each count. See Weekley v. State, 553 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). Both convictions, and the sentence of Johnson, are affirmed. The sentence of the appellant Carter is reversed and remanded for resentencing. AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED. DAUKSCH and W. SHARP, JJ„ concur…
-
Emory W. McGOWAN v. State, 586 So. 2d 1311 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)…be assessed for one episode even if the defendant inflicted more than one sexual battery upon that victim during the episode. Carter v. State, 573 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); Gordon v. State, 575 So. 2d 736 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991); Weekley v. State, 553 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). Thus McGowan’s scoresheet should have included only forty points for victim injury unless portions of the record not yet presented to this court show that two or more separate episodes occurred. Secondly, the record does not ref…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Lambert v. State, 545 So. 2d 838 (Fla. 1989)
- Doyal Powell Roberts v. State, 547 So. 2d 129 (Fla. 1989)
- The Fla. Bar re: Rules of Crim. Procedure (sentencing Guidelines, 482 So. 2d 311 (Fla. 1985)
- FLA. RULES OF CRIM. PROCEDURE RE SENTENCING GUIDELINES (RULES 3.701 & 3.988), 509 So. 2d 1088 (Fla. 1987)
- Walker v. State, 498 So. 2d 688 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)