DARRYL EUGENE SIBLEY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Darryl Sibley appeals his conviction for attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and his sentence as a habitual felony offender to life imprisonment with a 25-year minimum mandatory. The appellate court affirmed the conviction but reversed the habitual offender sentencing enhancement, finding it inapplicable to life felonies.
The court affirmed that the vagueness challenge to sections 775.0825 and 784.07(3) was properly rejected based on prior precedent. The court held that the habitual felony offender statute, section 775.084, is inapplicable to life felonies and therefore vacated the habitual offender sentence.
[1] Statutes imposing mandatory minimum sentences for attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer are not impermissibly vague and do not violate due process.
[2] A habitual felony offender sentence is inapplicable to life felonies.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“the habitual felony offender statute, § 775.084, Fla. Stat. (1989), is inapplicable to life felonies”
This establishes the primary legal holding that habitual offender enhancements cannot be applied to life felony sentences.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn February 5, 1990, Sibley was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a firearm and other offenses. The state o…
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ZEHMER, Judge.
Darryl Eugene Sibley appeals a final judgment adjudicating him guilty of attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a firearm, and sentencing him as a habitual felony offender to a term of life in prison, 25-year minimum mandatory, pursuant to section 775.-0825, Florida Statutes (1989). Sibley raises two issues on this appeal. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
On February 5, 1990, the state filed an information charging Sibley in several counts with attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a firearm, kidnapping, grand theft auto, grand theft of a firearm, grand theft of U.S. currency, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, carrying a concealed firearm, and resisting an officer with violence. In open court, the state orally amended the attempted murder count to state that during the charged offense, the officer was engaged in the lawful performance of his duty, pursuant to section 784.07(3), Florida Statutes (1989). The defense counsel waived objection to the clarification or amendment “pursuant to negotiations with the State.” Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, Sibley entered a plea of nolo contendere to the attempted first degree murder count, without reserving his right to appeal, and the state entered a nolle prosequi as to the remaining counts of the information. The circuit court accepted Sibley’s plea as freely and voluntarily made, and found that he was a habitual felony offender. The court adjudicated Sibley guilty and sentenced him as a habitual felony offender to a term of life in prison with a twenty-five-year minimum mandatory as provided in section 775.0825.
Sibley’s first point contends that sections 775.0825 and 784.07(3), Florida Statutes (1989), are impermissibly vague and violate due process, thus rendering unlawful his sentence of life imprisonment without parole for 25 years. Whether or not this issue was properly preserved for appellate review in this case, we note that these arguments have now been rejected, requiring affirmance on this point. Nephew v. State, 580 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Carpentier v. State, 587 So. 2d 1355 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).
Sibley’s second point contends that the trial court erred in imposing a sentence as a habitual offender in sentencing him for a life felony. Sibley was convicted and sentenced for attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer, which is punishable as a life felony. § 784.07(3), Fla. Stat. (1989). We agree that the habitual felony offender statute, § 775.084, Fla. Stat. (1989), is inapplicable to life felonies. Burdick v. State, 584 So. 2d 1035 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991); Gholston v. State, 16 F.L.W. D46, 1991 WL 205450 (Fla. 1st DCA Dec. 17, 1990); Johnson v. State, 568 So. 2d 519 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Newton v. State, 581 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). Accordingly, we vacate the sentence as a habitual felony offender and remand for resentencing.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
ERVIN and MINER, JJ., concur.
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Gholston v. State, 589 So. 2d 307 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…life felony, and burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon, a first-degree felony punishable by life, permit enhancement of sentences for these offenses under the habitual offender statute. However, this court’s recent opinion in Sibley v. State, 586 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), holds that life felonies are not subject to enhancement under the habitual felony offender statute. Further, this court in Burdick v. State, 584 So. 2d 1035 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) (en banc), receded from the rule announced in our o…
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Newton v. State, 603 So. 2d 558 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)…t apply to life felonies. Newton v. State, 581 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), approved, 594 So. 2d 306 (Fla.1992); Walker v. State, 580 So. 2d 281 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), jurisdiction improvidently granted, 593 So. 2d 1049 (Fla.1992); Sibley v. State, 586 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), rev. denied, 599 So. 2d 658 (Fla.1992) (habitual offender statute does not apply to life felony of attempted murder of law enforcement officer); and Power v. State, 568 So. 2d 511 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990). Although the trial court er…
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LEE v. State, 606 So. 2d 1222 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…burglary while armed with a dangerous weapon permit enhancement of sentences for these offenses under the habitual offender statute. This court did not directly address the issue, but responded by noting that it had recently held in Sibley v. State, 586 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), rev. den., 599 So. 2d 658 (Fla.1992), that the habitual offender statute is inapplicable to life felonies and that in Bur-dick it had "receded from the rule announced in our original Gholston opinion” and held that first degree…
Authorities Cited
- Pearson & Maluso, M.D., P.A. v. Bott, 584 So. 2d 1035 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)
- Easter v. State, 568 So. 2d 519 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- Carpentier v. State, 587 So. 2d 1355 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
- 5G'S CAR Sales, Inc. v. Fla. Dep't of Law Enf't, 581 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
- Newton v. State, 581 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
- Kennan Nephew v. State, 580 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)