ERIC FORSHEE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1991-05-17
No. 88-01914
SCHOONOVER, C.J., and FRANK and ALTENBERND, JJ., concur.
579 So. 2d 388 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1991)

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Synopsis

Eric Forshee challenges his guilty plea and sentence for attempted capital sexual battery. The court reverses and remands because the sentence imposed (14 years prison plus 20 years probation) exceeded the 30-year statutory maximum for a first-degree felony, and additionally because a probation condition was unsupported by the record.


Holding

The sentence was illegal because the total sanction cannot exceed the statutory maximum of 30 years for a first-degree felony. The probation condition was also invalid because it was not reasonably related to future criminality and had no support in the record. Because the sentence was part of the plea agreement negotiation, the remedy is to set aside the plea and reinstate the original charge rather than merely resentence.


Headnotes

[1] A split sentence of state prison and probation is permissible, but the total sanction cannot exceed the maximum term provided by statute for the offense.

[2] An illegal sentence must be reversed despite the defendant's failure to object or the sentence having been imposed as a result of plea negotiations.

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Key Quotes

“Although a split sentence of state prison and probation is permissible, the total sanction cannot exceed the maximum term provided by statute.”

Establishes the legal principle that while combining prison and probation is allowed, the combined term cannot exceed the statutory maximum.

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Facts & Procedural History

Forshee was charged with capital sexual battery. Following plea negotiations, the state agreed to allow him to plead guilty to the lesser included off…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The appellant, Eric Forshee, challenges the judgment and sentence imposed upon him after he pled guilty to attempted capital sexual battery. We reverse and remand.

The appellant was charged with capital sexual battery. The state, as a result of plea negotiations, agreed to accept a guilty plea to the lesser included offense of attempted capital sexual battery if the appellant was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment followed by twenty years probation. The trial court accepted the plea and entered a judgment and sentence in accordance with the terms and conditions of the plea. This timely appeal followed.

We agree with the appellant’s contention that the trial court imposed an illegal sentence. The appellant pled guilty to attempted capital sexual battery, a first degree felony. See §§’ 794.011(2), 777.-04(4)(a), Fla.Stat. (1987). Section 775.-082(3)(b), Florida Statutes (1987), provides that the maximum punishment for a first degree felony is thirty years in prison. In this case, the appellant was sentenced to fourteen years in prison followed by twenty years of probation. Although a split sentence of state prison and probation is permissible, the total sanction cannot exceed the maximum term provided by statute. Saint v. State, 562 So. 2d 866 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990). Further, because the sentence is illegal it must be reversed despite the appellant’s failure to object, Watson v. State, 426 So. 2d 1300 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), and the sentence having been imposed as a result of plea negotiations. Griner v. State, 524 So. 2d 487 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988).

If the trial court had imposed this sentence after a trial, or if the appellant had pled guilty without his sentence being part of the plea negotiations, we would reverse and remand for the imposition of a legal sentence. In this case, however, the state agreed to allow the appellant to plead to a lesser included offense provided the court imposed the sentence agreed to by the parties. The appellant and the court agreed to this sentence, which all parties mistakenly believed was legal. The state’s negotiation was clearly based upon the premise that the appellant would receive the fourteen years in prison followed by the twenty years probation. Just as a defendant is not bound by a misconceived bargain, the state likewise is not bound to accept a sentence it did not bargain for. To allow this plea to stand would allow the appellant to get more than he bargained for and deny the state what it bargained for. The remedy under circumstances such as those present is to set aside the plea and reinstate the original charge, and we, accordingly, so order. Jolly v. State, 392 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981).

Upon remand, if the parties once again enter into a plea agreement and the sentence imposed includes probation, we remind the trial court that a special condition of probation is invalid if it (1) has no relationship to the crime of which the offender was convicted, (2) relates to conduct which is not in itself criminal, and (3) requires or forbids conduct which is not reasonably related to future criminality. Rodriguez v. State, 378 So. 2d 7 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). The order of probation in this case included a special condition that prohibited the appellant from entering any place or business where the primary purpose of that business is the sale of alcoholic beverages. The record does not support the imposition of such a condition of probation. Rodriguez.

Reversed and remanded with instructions.

SCHOONOVER, C.J., and FRANK and ALTENBERND, JJ., concur.


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