ROBERT E. POWELL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1992-04-03
No. 91-481
GOSHORN, C.J., and COBB, J., concur.
596 So. 2d 770 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1992) Negative Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The court reversed Powell's adjudication as a habitual felony offender because the trial court failed to make the statutory findings of fact required by Florida law. Additionally, the court vacated his sentence as unauthorized because the 10-year minimum mandatory sentence applies only to habitual violent felony offenders, not habitual felony offenders.


Holding

The adjudication of habitual felony offender status was reversed because the trial court failed to make prerequisite findings of fact required by section 775.084(3)(d), Florida Statutes. The sentence was also vacated as unauthorized because the 10-year minimum mandatory sentence applies only to habitual violent felony offenders, and Powell was found to be only a habitual felony offender.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must make specific findings of fact to support an adjudication of habitual felony offender status.

[2] A presentence investigation report alone does not satisfy the statutory requirement for specific findings to support habitual felony offender status.

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Key Quotes

“We hold that the findings required by section 775.084 are critical to the statutory scheme and enable meaningful appellate review of these types of sentencing decisions. Without these findings, the review process would be difficult, if not impossible.”

Establishes that specific findings of fact are mandatory and essential for appellate review of habitual offender sentencing

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Facts & Procedural History

Powell was convicted of sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school, a first-degree felony. The trial court adjudicated him an habitual felony offen…

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Opinion of the Court
COWART, Judge.

COWART, Judge.

The trial court adjudicated the defendant to be an habitual felony offender but did not make any specific findings of fact to support the adjudication. The trial court then sentenced the defendant as an habitual felony offender on Count I (sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school (§ 893.13(l)(e), Fla.Stat.) (a first degree felony) to a 30 year term of imprisonment with a ten year minimum mandatory sentence citing section 775.084, Florida Statutes. However, in open court, the trial court announced that the defendant was adjudged an habitual felony offender on Count I and was sentenced to 30 years with a minimum mandatory sentence of three years with no parole on Count I for 10 years.

The State argues that although the trial court made no specific formal findings, the imposition of the habitual felony offender status was supported by the PSI relied on by the trial court, citing Rowland v. State, 583 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991). The PSI in the record does not meet the statutory requirements of specific findings to support an habitual felony offender status.

We reverse the trial court's adjudication that the defendant was an habitual felony offender because the trial court did not make the prerequisite findings of fact re quired by section 775.084(3)(d), Florida Statutes. Parker v. State, 546 So. 2d 727 (Fla.1989); Walker v. State, 462 So. 2d 452 (Fla.1985); Eutsey v. State, 383 So. 2d 219 (Fla.1980); Power v. State, 568 So. 2d 511 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990); Smith v. State, 573 So. 2d 194 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). As stated by the supreme court in Walker at 454:

We hold that the findings required by section 775.084 are critical to the statutory scheme and enable meaningful appellate review of these types of sentencing decisions. Without these findings, the review process would be difficult, if not impossible. It is clear the legislature intended the trial court to make specific findings of fact when sentencing a defendant as a[n] habitual offender. Given this mandatory statutory duty, the trial court’s failure to make such findings is appealable regardless of whether such failure is objected to at trial, (emphasis added).

The sentence imposed on Count I is unauthorized because the habitual felony offender statute only authorizes a 10 year minimum mandatory sentence for defendants found to be habitual violent felony offenders and the defendant was only found to be an habitual offender. (§' 775.-084(4)(a) & (b), Fla.Stat.). Therefore, because the defendant was found only to be an habitual felony offender (which finding we also reverse), and not an habitual violent felony offender, we vacate that sentence and remand for resentencing.

The trial court, on resentencing, may reconsider the defendant’s habitual felony offender status and reimpose that status after making specific findings of fact as required by the statute, Walker, and other cases.

The adjudication that the defendant is an habitual felony offender is reversed, his sentence vacated and the cause remanded for further proceedings.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

GOSHORN, C.J., and COBB, J., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Harper v. State, 605 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)
    …a habitual felony offender. Harper argues on appeal that the trial court erred by not making the requisite statutory findings concerning his habitual offender status on the record. See generally, § 775.084(3), Fla.Stat. (1991). In Powell v. State, 596 So. 2d 770 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), as in the present case, the trial court adjudicated the defendant to be a habitual felony offender but did not make any specific findings of fact on record to support the classification. The state argued that despite the lack of…

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