CURTIS BROWN SR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Curtis Brown Sr. appealed his conviction for cocaine and firearm offenses, challenging primarily his sentence. The appellate court affirmed the conviction but reversed and remanded for resentencing due to multiple sentencing errors, including improper application of legal constraint points, failure to determine ability to pay for drug abuse trust fund assessments, and clerical errors on sentencing forms.
The court reversed the sentence on multiple grounds: legal constraint points should be applied only once, not once per count; the public defender's fee was improper without notice and opportunity to be heard; the drug abuse trust fund assessment required a determination of ability to pay before imposition; and investigative costs and fine allocations were assessed to incorrect counts. The conviction itself was affirmed.
[1] Legal constraint points should be applied only once in sentencing.
[2] A defendant must be given notice and an opportunity to be heard before a public defender's fee is imposed.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The supreme court clearly held in Flowers that legal constraint points should be applied only once. The matter is therefore settled and we are compelled to reverse the sentence of the appellant in the case at bar.”
Establishes the primary basis for reversal—that multiple application of legal constraint points was improper under controlling Florida Supreme Court precedent.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBrown pled no contest to sale and possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was then tried and convicted on additiona…
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POLEN, Judge.
The appellant pled no contest to charges of sale and possession of cocaine, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The appellant was then tried on another count of possession of cocaine and one count of trafficking in cocaine. After the jury returned a verdict of guilty, the appellant was sentenced to fifteen years prison time on one count of sale of cocaine, a concurrent term of seventeen years for the trafficking in cocaine, with a three-year minimum mandatory sentence, a concurrent term of five years on two other counts for possession of cocaine, and a consecutive sentence of fifteen years probation for the firearm charge. A misdemeanor marijuana possession charge was nolle prossed by the state.
As a special condition of his probation the appellant was ordered to pay $225 in court costs, a $50,000 fine, $190 in public defender’s fees, $500 to the Drug Abuse Trust Fund, $2,835 in investigative fees to the Indian River Sheriff’s Department and $2050 to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. At sentencing the trial court applied legal constraint points seven times, based on the seven counts for which the appellant was adjudged guilty. We reverse the multiple application of the legal constraint points, noting that our previous holding to the contrary in Carter v. State, 571 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990), has been quashed by the supreme court in Carter v. State, 586 So. 2d 340 (Fla.1991).
We first submitted this case for en banc consideration, but due to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Florida in Flowers v. State, 586 So. 2d 1058 (Fla.1991), this court voted to dis-en banc, and the case reverted to the original panel. The supreme court clearly held in Flowers that legal constraint points should be applied only once. The matter is therefore settled and we are compelled to reverse the sentence of the appellant in the case at bar. The trial court shall, on remand, re-calculate the assessment of legal constraint points and sentence the appellant appropriately in accord with this opinion and with Flowers.
We find that the trial court erred with regard to the imposition of a public defender’s fee. The appellant must be given notice and the opportunity to be heard prior to the imposition of this type of fee. In the Interest of R.B., 582 So. 2d 163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991).
The appellant’s argument that he was denied due process of law with regard to the imposition of court costs has been decided by the Supreme Court of Florida in State v. Beasley, 580 So. 2d 139 (Fla.1991). There was no error in imposing these costs without a hearing on the appellant’s ability to pay.
In Beasley the supreme court held that there is no need for the trial court to determine the defendant’s ability to pay statutorily mandated costs unless the statute specifically requires such a determination. In the case at bar the appellant was ordered to pay $500 to the Drug Abuse Trust Fund under section 893.13(4)(b), Florida Statutes (Supp.1990). The statute specifically requires that the defendant have the ability to pay, which was never determined by the trial court. We must therefore reverse on that point; however, if the state can show that the appellant has the ability to pay the fund then, upon resentencing, the fine can be reimposed.
We also remand for the correction of two errors on the appellant’s sentencing forms. The trial court improperly assessed investigative costs as restitution on the sentencing forms and assessed the appellant with a $50,000 fine for the firearm count rather than the trafficking count. The trial court is instructed to clarify these fines and costs on resentencing; we believe these errors to be merely typographic or scrivener’s errors.
We find no merit to the appellant’s arguments concerning the chain of custody. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of conviction and remand the case for resentencing and for correction of the scrivener’s errors on the appellant’s sentencing forms.
DOWNEY and GUNTHER, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Robinson v. State, 605 So. 2d 500 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…the written probation order to reflect that appellant is required to pay $140 as costs incurred by the sheriff’s department for the investigation, pursuant to Section 939.-01, Florida Statutes (1989), rather than as restitution. See Brown v. State, 591 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 4th DCA1991) (characterization of investigative costs as “restitution” on sentencing form was scrivener’s error). Moreover, contrary to the state’s contention that directing the probation officer to supervise payment of the costs is a reasona…
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Johnson v. State, 620 So. 2d 791 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)…plied.) Our research has disclosed only one case addressing the issue presented here, i.e., whether the trial court must make a finding of the defendant’s ability to pay the $100 laboratory fee authorized by section 893.13(4)(b). In Brown v. State, 591 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), the court reversed an assessment under section 893.-13(4)(b), because the trial court failed to determine that the defendant had the ability to pay. The fourth district found the opinion in State v. Beasley, 580 So:2d 139 (Fla.1…
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Mabrey v. State, 592 So. 2d 387 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)…ied legal constraint points four times, once for each count charged. We reverse on the authority of Flowers v. State, 586 So. 2d 1058 (Fla.1991). Legal constraint points are only to be applied once, rather than in multiples. See also Brown v. State, 591 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). The appellant’s sentence is reversed and we remand the case for resentencing in accordance with Flowers. DOWNEY, STONE and POLEN, JJ., concur.…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Beasley, 580 So. 2d 139 (Fla. 1991)
- Flowers v. State, 586 So. 2d 1058 (Fla. 1991)
- Carter v. State, 586 So. 2d 340 (Fla. 1991)
- In the Interest of R.B., 582 So. 2d 163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)
- Fla. Perfections, Inc. v. J & D Fin. Corp., 571 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
- Carter v. State, 571 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)