RAYTAURUS EMON ARMSTRONG

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA

Appellant appeals the summary denial of his postconviction motion brought under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We affirm.

Armstrong was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon during a trial in which he stipulated that he had a prior felony conviction. The trial court sentenced him to eighteen years imprisonment as a habitual felony offender. We affirmed the judgment and sentence on direct appeal, with the mandate issuing on August 21, 2015. Armstrong v. State, 171 So. 3d 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015).

In March 2019, Armstrong filed the instant motion to correct illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800. He argued that his eighteen-year habitual felony sentence was illegal because it exceeded the statutory maximum of fifteen years for a second-degree felony. Armstrong asserted that the trial court’s decision to “depart from the statutory maximum” was made as the result of a “dangerousness finding required as a condition predicate to habitualization . . . .” Appellant cited to Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490 (2000), and Brown v. State, 260 So. 3d 147 (Fla. 2018), and concluded that such a factual finding must be made by a jury.

In January 2020, the lower court summarily denied Appellant’s motion.

The lower court agreed with the State’s response that Brown was distinguishable from the present case because Brown concerned the application of section 775.082(10), Florida Statutes (2015), which required a factual finding that the defendant presented a “danger to the public.” The present case concerned section 775.084, Florida Statutes (2012).

The lower court sentenced Armstrong based on the recidivist requirements of the statute which did not require a jury finding.

The trial court here was correct.

The lower court was authorized to impose the enhanced punishment of up to thirty years imprisonment, twice the statutory maximum, because of Armstrong’s prior felony convictions—not because of any judicial fact-finding. See § 775.084(1)(a), (4)(a)2, Fla. Stat. (2012). Recidivist-sentencing enhancement based on prior felony convictions do not require findings of fact. See Hunter v. State, 174 So. 3d 1011, 1016–17 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (holding that state was not required to prove enhancement factors to jury prior to trial court’s imposition of habitual violent felony offender enhancement); see McBride v. State, 884 So. 2d 476 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004) (holding that a jury did not need to determine whether defendant had the requisite predicate convictions for habitual felony sentence).

Thus, Armstrong’s sentence does not violate the Sixth Amendment’s right to trial by jury, as the trial court correctly ruled. AFFIRMED. OSTERHAUS, J., concurs; BILBREY, J., concurs with opinion.