TOMMY LEE JOHNSON, 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 an escalating pattern of criminal activity is a permissible reason for departing from sentencing guidelines only if factually supported by the record.
Appellant Tommy Lee Johnson was resentenced after a prior reversal. The trial court departed from sentencing guidelines, citing the defendant's contin…
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 Escalating Pattern Of Criminal Conduct cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
Appellant Tommy Lee Johnson was re-sentenced pursuant to this court’s opinion in Johnson v. State, 517 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987).1 After remand the trial court imposed the same sentence as before, offering the following written justification for departing from the guideline recommendation:
Defendant’s continuing, persistent, and escalating pattern of criminal conduct and his past resistance to rehabilitation clearly establishes that he has a lack of regard for the law and judicial system and is a danger to society, to-wit: past convictions for burglary, aggravated assault, robbery, soliciting prostitution, violations of probation and present convictions of aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling.
We agree with appellant that the trial court’s departure is essentially based upon an “escalating pattern of criminal activity.” This is a permissible reason for departure if factually supported by the record. Keys v. State, 500 So. 2d 134 (Fla.1986); Fobelo v. State, 488 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). In the present case, however, the record does not show an increase in the seriousness of appellant’s crimes.2 Therefore, we are compelled to remand for sentencing within the range recommended by the sentencing guidelines. Lee v. State, 556 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990).
Reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent herewith.
SCHEB, A.C.J., and LEHAN and HALL, JJ., concur. . That reversal was based upon the trial court's failure to provide in writing its reasons for departing from the guideline recommendation. See State v. Jackson, 478 So. 2d 1054 (Fla.1985).
. In its brief appellee recites certain egregious facts, brought out at appellant's trial, which might have supported the departure in this case. Regrettably, we are limited to review of only those reasons expressly enumerated by the trial court. Casteel v. State, 498 So. 2d 1249 (Fla.1986).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Ramsey v. State, 562 So. 2d 394 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…es that term to mean “a progression from nonviolent to violent crimes or a progression of increasingly violent crimes.” 6 See State v. Simpson, 554 So. 2d 506 (Fla.1989). See also Lewis v. State, 558 So. 2d 170 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Johnson v. State, 558 So. 2d 1051 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Jackson v. State, 556 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Maddox v. State, 553 So. 2d 1380 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989). The other reasons given are based on the defendant’s violation of probation and were used as a basis for a departure sen…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Jackson, 478 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 1985)
- Keys v. State, 500 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 1986)
- Casteel v. State, 498 So. 2d 1249 (Fla. 1986)
- Fabelo v. State, 488 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)
- Johnson v. State, 517 So. 2d 760 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
- LEE v. State, 556 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)