JIMMY STRICKLAND, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1992-12-23
No. 91-3001
HERSEY and POLEN, JJ., concur.
610 So. 2d 705 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1992) Positive Treatment
Cited by 10 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.


Holding

The court held that the restitution order must be reversed because the trial court failed to determine the amount of loss directly resulting from the appellant's offenses and failed to consider the appellant's ability to pay.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must require the state to present evidence to establish the amount of restitution sought and the direct connection between the defendant's offenses and the…

[2] A trial court must consider the defendant's financial resources, present and future financial needs, and earning ability when determining the amount of restitution.

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

Facts & Procedural History

Appellant pled guilty to grand theft and agreed to pay restitution. At the restitution hearing, appellant was absent, and the trial court ordered rest…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
DELL, Judge.

DELL, Judge.

Appellant pled guilty to two counts of grand theft. Appellant and the state agreed to a guidelines sentence and restitution. The trial court convicted and sentenced appellant and deferred the determination of restitution to a subsequent hearing.

Appellant’s counsel represented him at the restitution hearing and did not expressly object to appellant’s absence due to his confinement in prison. His counsel only stated she thought she might need him there because of the dispute as to the restitution amount. Counsel argued many people had stolen from Mr. Davis and that the state had the burden to show a direct connection between appellant’s thefts and the amount of restitution sought. The trial court, based upon unsworn testimony presented by the state, ordered restitution to Mr. Horne in the amount of $1,800.00 and to Mr. Davis in the amount of $4,000.00. At the hearing, the trial court ordered the restitution to Mr. Davis “to be paid on a monthly basis at an amount set by [the] probation officer once [appellant] gets out and figure[s] out what his financial status is.” The trial court recognized a question existed as to appellant’s ability to pay but failed to require the state to present evidence on this issue.

Appellant contends the restitution order must be reversed because the trial court conducted the hearing without appellant, failed to require the state to prove that the amounts claimed by the victim resulted from appellant’s offenses, ordered restitution based upon guesswork and unsworn statements, failed to determine appellant’s ability to pay and delegated its responsibility to a probation officer to determine appellant’s ability to pay. The state argues appellant waived these objections by failing to raise them at the restitution hearing.

We agree with the state’s argument to the extent that it pertains to appellant’s absence from the hearing and the trial court’s reliance upon unsworn testimony to establish the amount of restitution. Appellant agreed to pay restitution in his plea agreement and had notice of the resti tution hearing. His counsel’s comments concerning his absence did not preserve this point for appeal and his counsel failed to object to the court’s acceptance of un-sworn testimony to establish the amount of restitution.

The record, however, shows appellant’s counsel did challenge the amount claimed as restitution and argued since many people had stolen from Mr. Davis, appellant should only have to pay for the property which he stole. The record does not support the state’s reliance upon Spivey v. State, 531 So. 2d 965 (Fla.1988), in which the court stated:

[W]here a defendant commits a criminal offense in concert with others, it is within the discretion of the trial court to require that defendant to pay the full amount of restitution, or to apportion restitution in any appropriate manner. Id. at 967. Rather, we find the facts in this case analogous to those considered by this court in Peters v. State, 555 So. 2d 450 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). In Peters, we said:
Section 775.089(l)(a), Florida Statutes (Supp.1988), authorizes a sentencing court, after a hearing, to “... order the defendant to make restitution ... for damage or loss caused directly or indirectly by the defendant’s offense.” (Italics added.) Subsection (6) of that section instructs the court further to consider not only the amount of the victims’ losses but the ability of the defendant to pay. Subsection (7) places the burden of establishing victims’ losses on the state.

Id. at 451. In Peters, this court reversed the order of restitution concluding in part that the state failed to show Peters fenced all of the goods stolen from the victim. Id. Section 775.089(6), Florida Statutes (1991), provides:

The court, in determining whether to order restitution and the amount of such restitution, shall consider the amount of the loss sustained by any victim as a result of the offense, the financial resources of the defendant, the present and potential future financial needs and earning ability of the defendant and his dependents, and such other factors which it deems appropriate.

(emphasis added). Here, the trial court not only failed to determine the amount of loss sustained by the victim as a result of appellant’s offenses, but also failed to determine appellant’s ability to pay. See Denmark v. State, 588 So. 2d 324 (Fla. 4th DCA1991). The trial court further lacked the authority to delegate this responsibility to a probation officer and to allow the probation officer to determine the amount of appellant’s monthly payments. See Williams v. State, 556 So. 2d 799 (Fla. 4th DCA1990). Based upon these errors, we must reverse the order of restitution.

Since we must remand this case for a new hearing, we note the trial court may not rely upon unsworn testimony and solely upon argument of counsel as the basis for determining the amount of restitution. See § 90.605, Fla.Stat. (1991); Houck v. State, 421 So. 2d 1113 (Fla. 1st DCA1982).

Accordingly, we reverse the order of restitution and remand this cause for further proceedings consistent herewith.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

HERSEY and POLEN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • A.J. v. State, 677 So. 2d 935 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
    …he terms and conditions of payment of restitution to the Department of Juvenile Justice or other community control officers. G.A.Z. v. State, 657 So. 2d 1244 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); Boss v. State, 613 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993); Strickland v. State, 610 So. 2d 705, 706 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED. WARNER, J„ and GROSSMAN, MELVIN, B., Associate Judge, concur. . The award of $2,498.00 instead of $2,400.98 is a clerical error that can be corrected on remand. . Because…
  • Hamrick v. State, 648 So. 2d 274 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)
    …(Fla. 1st DCA 1993). Before a trial court grants a motion for restitution, it shall consider several factors, including the loss by the victim and appellant’s ability to pay restitution. § 775.089(6), Fla.Stat. (1993). See also Strickland v. State, 610 So. 2d 705 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). “[T]he trial court may not rely upon unsworn testimony and solely upon argument of counsel as the basis for determining the amount of restitution.” Strickland, [*277] 610 So. 2d at 707. Also, the trial court has an affirmative d…
  • Schotsch v. State, 670 So. 2d 127 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
    …. Without an objection to defendant’s absence having been raised at the restitution hearing, and in light of defendant’s plea agreement and defense counsel’s affirmative waiver, defendant did not properly preserve the issue. See Strickland v. State, 610 So. 2d 705 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). Due process is not implicated here where there has been an agreement by defendant to pay restitution, notice and an opportunity to be heard, and an affirmative waiver. Cf. Wood v. State, 544 So. 2d 1004 (Fla.1989). Defendant is…
    1 / 2

Previewing 3 of 10 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw