STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
JOSEPH ANTHONY MCMAHON, APPELLEE
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The court held that a trial court must provide written reasons for imposing a downward departure sentence from the sentencing guidelines.
Joseph McMahon received a downward departure sentence following revocation of his probation. The trial court did not provide written reasons for this …
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PARKER, Judge.
The State of Florida challenges Joseph McMahon’s downward departure sentence imposed following a revocation of his probation. The state argues that the trial court erred in imposing a downward departure sentence without providing written reasons for its departure. We agree and remand to the trial court with directions to resentence McMahon within the sentencing guidelines.
In 1989 the trial court withheld adjudication and placed McMahon on two years’ probation for uttering a forged instrument. In 1990 the trial court adjudicated McMahon guilty of sexual battery and placed him on five and one-half years' probation pursuant to a negotiated plea.
In 1991 McMahon pleaded guilty to violating his probation. The trial court revoked McMahon’s probation, adjudicated him guilty of the underlying crimes, and sentenced him to one year of community control followed by four years’ probation in each case to run concurrently. The sentencing guidelines, however, recommended five and one-half to seven years’ incarceration and permitted a range of four and one-half to nine years’ incarceration.
The trial court erred when it did not provide written reasons for imposing a sentence which departed from the sentencing guidelines. See State v. Dreyer, 594 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 2d DCA), juris, accepted, 599 So. 2d 655 (Fla.1992); State v. Cook, 571 So. 2d 22 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). When a trial court fails to provide written reasons for departure, upon remand it must resentence the defendant to a guidelines sentence. Owens v. State, 598 So. 2d 64 (Fla.1992); Pope v. State, 561 So. 2d 554 (Fla.1990).
We reverse and remand this case with directions to the trial court to resentence McMahon to a sentence within the sentencing guidelines.
CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and BLUE, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Franquiz v. State, 682 So. 2d 536 (Fla. 1996)…91 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), in which the district court reversed and remanded for resentencing after the State agreed to a downward departure and, upon revocation, the trial court provided no written reasons for the departure. See also State v. McMahon, 605 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992), in which the second district required written reasons for departure in similar circumstances. . State v. Jackson, 478 So. 2d 1054, 1056 (Fla.1985) (quoting Boynton v. State, 473 So. 2d 703, 707 (Fla. 4th DCA), approved, 478 So.…
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State v. Zlockower, 650 So. 2d 692 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)…4 So. 2d at 292; see also Smith v. State, 598 So. 2d 1063 (Fla.1992) (modifying Ree in part).3 It also appears that the second district requires written reasons for downward departure in circumstances like those now before us. See State v. McMahon, 605 So. 2d 544, 545 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992).4 In our view the Florida Supreme Court decisions in Pope and Ree require written reasons for a downward departure disposition, without exception. Pope v. State, 561 So. 2d at 556; Ree v. State, 565 So. 2d at 1331. We agree…
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State v. Brown, 675 So. 2d 991 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)…. Feb. 1, 1996); State v. Franquiz, 654 So. 2d 1068 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), review granted, No. 85,960, 668 So. 2d 603 (Fla. Feb. 1, 1996); State v. Zlockower, 650 So. 2d 692 (Fla. 3d DCA), review dismissed, 659 So. 2d 1091 (Fla.1995); State v. McMahon, 605 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992). Appellee urges that we recede from Roman, and adopt the position of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. In State v. Hogan, 611 So. 2d 78 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), that court appears to have held that written reasons need not be file…
Authorities Cited
- Pope v. State, 561 So. 2d 554 (Fla. 1990)
- Owens v. State, 598 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 1992)
- State v. Mychel Marie Cook, 571 So. 2d 22 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
- State v. Dreyer, 594 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)