ALVIN LAMAR WOOD, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The defendant was sentenced to 60 years for armed burglary, 20 years for false imprisonment and attempted manslaughter, and life imprisonment for sexual battery with a deadly weapon, with all sentences consecutive. The court reversed the life sentence for sexual battery because it constituted an unintended departure from guidelines without valid written reasons, but affirmed the other sentences.
The concurrent life sentence imposed on the sexual battery offense, when made consecutive to other sentences, constitutes a departure from guidelines because the defendant is sentenced to something in addition to life imprisonment. Since the trial court did not intend to impose a departure sentence, the life sentence is vacated and remanded for resentencing consideration with proper written justification if a departure is intended.
[1] A life imprisonment sentence imposed consecutively to other sentences, when the guidelines score recommends life imprisonment, constitutes a departure sentence.
[2] A departure sentence requires contemporaneous written reasons justifying the departure.
Previewing 2 of 4 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 life imprisonment sentence is a departure sentence because, by being consecutive, the defendant does not commence service of the life sentence until after the expiration of the other (here 80 years) sentences and, thus, has been sentenced to something in addition to life imprisonment which is, of course, a departure from the recommended guidelines sentence.”
Establishes the key legal principle that consecutive life sentences with other sentences constitute a departure from guidelines
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe defendant was convicted of four offenses: burglary of a dwelling while armed, false imprisonment, attempted manslaughter, and sexual battery with …
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COWART, Judge.
This is another guidelines sentencing case.
The defendant was before the court for sentencing on four offenses; his guidelines scoresheet recommended a sentence of life imprisonment.
Pursuant to the habitual offender statute,1 the defendant was sentenced on one count (burglary of a dwelling while armed, § 810.02(2)(b), Fla.Stat.) to 60 years imprisonment. Consecutive to the 60 year sentence, the defendant was sentenced on two other counts (false imprisonment, § 787.-02(2), Fla.Stat. and attempted manslaughter, § 782.07, Fla.Stat.) to a total of 20 years imprisonment. Without invocation of the habitual offender statute and without valid written reasons justifying a departure sentence, the defendant was given a guidelines sentence on another count (sexual battery with a deadly weapon, § 794.011(3), Fla.Stat.) of life imprisonment consecutive to the two sentences totalling 80 years. The defendant appeals and argues that his sentences were consecutive and that his sentence for sexual battery with a deadly weapon departed from the recommended guidelines range without the necessary contemporaneous valid written reasons being given.
Where a defendant’s scoresheet recommends a sentence of life imprisonment and a life imprisonment sentence is imposed and consecutive sentences are imposed on other counts at the same time the life sentence is imposed, see Rease v. State, 493 So. 2d 454 (Fla.1986); Green v. State, 581 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); Lewis v. State, 550 So. 2d 144 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), the life imprisonment sentence is a departure sentence because, by being consecutive, the defendant does not commence service of the life sentence until after the expiration of the other (here 80 years) sentences and, thus, has been sentenced to something in addition to life imprisonment which is, of course, a departure from the recommended guidelines sentence.
However, the record discloses that the trial court did not intend to impose a departure sentence when it imposed the life sentence on the sexual battery offense. Therefore, upon remand, the trial court may consider the imposition of a departure sentence. State v. Betancourt, 552 So. 2d 1107 (Fla.1989); Green v. State; Henderson v. State, 577 So. 2d 653 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), rev. denied, 589 So. 2d 291 (Fla. 1991); Merritt v. State, 567 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990).
All of the convictions are affirmed. The 60 year sentence on the armed burglary offense and the two consecutive 10 year sentences on the false imprisonment and attempted manslaughter offenses are affirmed. The life sentence on the sexual battery offense is vacated and the cause remanded for resentencing on that offense.
AFFIRMED IN PART; ONE SENTENCE VACATED; REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.
COBB and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. . § 775.084, Fla.Stat.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Gipson v. State, 616 So. 2d 992 (Fla. 1993)…he second district ruled that a guidelines maximum sentence ordered to be served consecutively with a capital sentence does not constitute a departure requiring written justification. The court in Gipson cited as conflicting authority Wood v. State, 593 So. 2d 557 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), a fifth district case wherein the court ruled that a guidelines maximum sentence imposed consecutively with an habitual offender sentence constitutes a departure. Subsequent to issuance of Gipson, this Court approved Boomer, re…
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Boomer v. State, 596 So. 2d 730 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…e for the capital felony, the trial [*731] court departed from the recommended range of the guidelines. We have found only one other case in Florida addressing this issue. That is the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Wood v. State, 593 So. 2d 557 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992). In that case, a guidelines sentence of life imprisonment was made consecutive to two nonguidelines sentences (habitual offender) totaling eighty years. The court said that the life imprisonment sentence was a departure sentence…
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Hood v. State, 603 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)…ermore, because the record indicates that the trial judge did not intend to impose a departure sentence, the trial judge is not required to impose a guidelines sentence on remand. State v. Betancourt, 552 So. 2d 1107, 1108 (Fla.1989); Wood v. State, 593 So. 2d 557, 557-58 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992). Convictions AFFIRMED; Sentences REVERSED in part; REMANDED. GOSHORN, C.J., and COBB and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur. . § 800.04(1), Fla.Stat. (1991). Hood also pled guilty to three counts of capital sexual battery, but con…
Previewing 3 of 10 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Betancourt, 552 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 1989)
- Rease v. State, 493 So. 2d 454 (Fla. 1986)
- Henderson v. State, 577 So. 2d 653 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
- Merritt v. State, 567 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)
- Lewis v. State, 550 So. 2d 144 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
- Green v. State, 581 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)
- Green v. State, 581 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)