VICTOR ANTHONY CARBONE, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Carbone appeals his sentencing for armed robbery, challenging whether the trial court properly scored eight prior cocaine-related convictions from 1987 as separate offenses for sentencing enhancement purposes. The court affirms the conviction and sentences but remands for correction of the judgment to reflect that the robbery was committed without a firearm.
The court affirmed the conviction and sentences. Because Carbone's 1987 convictions occurred before the Carawan v. State decision in September 1987, the pre-Carawan case law permitting separate convictions for sale and possession of cocaine applies, making the scoring of eight separate convictions proper under the law existing at the time of conviction.
[1] Prior convictions for sale and possession of cocaine may be scored separately for sentencing enhancement purposes when the convictions occurred prior to the decision in Carawan v. …
[2] Under Florida law prior to Carawan v. …
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“Because the defendant was convicted for the 1986 offense in February 1987, before Carawan v. State, 515 So. 2d 161 (Fla.1987), was decided in September 1987, the argument fails.”
Establishes the temporal jurisdictional basis for applying pre-Carawan law to the defendant's prior convictions
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1987, Carbone was sentenced to four years probation for four counts of sale of cocaine and four counts of possession of cocaine. In 1989, he was ch…
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PER CURIAM.
In 1987, Carbone was sentenced to four years probation for four counts of sale of cocaine and four counts of possession of cocaine. In 1989, he was charged with armed robbery and felonious display of a firearm in the commission of a robbery. After he was found guilty in the 1989 case of “Armed Robbery Without A Firearm” as a lesser included offense of Count I, the trial judge scored the prior offense as eight individual prior convictions — four for the sale of cocaine and four for the delivery of cocaine. Scoring the eight prior offenses separately, notwithstanding that they were included in a single information and that four of them are lesser included offenses of the other four, resulted in a high guideline sentence. The defendant was sentenced to the maximum twenty-two years on the new offense, followed by the maximum three and one-half years for the probation violation.
Carbone contends that it was error to calculate the probation felonies as eight separate convictions so as to enhance the sentence for the present offense. Because the defendant was convicted for the 1986 offense in February 1987, before Carawan v. State, 515 So. 2d 161 (Fla.1987), was decided in September 1987, the argument fails. The pre-Carawan line of cases following section 775.021(4), Florida Statutes (1983), are binding, and permit separate convictions for the crimes of sale and possession of cocaine. See, e.g., Rotenberry v. State, 468 So. 2d 971 (Fla.1985) (sale and possession of cocaine are different crimes subject to separate punishments).
Although we must affirm the conviction and sentences, the cause is remanded for correction of the judgment to reflect the jury finding that the robbery was committed without a firearm.
Affirmed and remanded.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Dion Michael Carawan v. State, 515 So. 2d 161 (Fla. 1987)
- Rotenberry v. State, 468 So. 2d 971 (Fla. 1985)