MICHAEL EDWARDS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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.
Michael Edwards appealed the trial court's denial of his motion to withdraw guilty pleas in two consolidated trafficking cases. The court affirmed the conviction and sentence in one case but reversed and remanded the other, finding Edwards did not understand the sentencing range he faced in the latter case despite his guilty plea.
In Case No. 91-2868, the court affirmed the plea and sentence because the record supported that Edwards understood he was facing seven to nine years, consistent with his actual sentence. In Case No. 91-2886, the court reversed and remanded because Edwards did not understand he was facing nine to twenty-two years imprisonment, even though the trial court applied a lower five-and-a-half to twelve year range, and the consecutive sentence resulted in a twelve-year total term exceeding what Edwards understood.
[1] A defendant may withdraw a guilty plea if they did not understand the potential sentencing range at the time of the plea.
[2] A trial court's denial of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea will be reversed if the record demonstrates the defendant misunderstood the length of the potential sentence.
Previewing 2 of 5 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 record contains sufficient evidence to show appellant understood the terms of the substantial assistance agreement and that his failure to perform the agreement did not result from the conduct of law enforcement.”
Establishes the court's finding regarding Edwards's understanding of the substantial assistance agreement in both cases
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceEdwards was charged with trafficking in cocaine and other drug offenses in two consolidated cases. He entered open pleas of guilty to all charges in b…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Possession Of Diazepam cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
This court granted appellant’s unopposed motion to consolidate these appeals. In Case No. 91-2868, the state charged appellant with four counts: trafficking in cocaine (Count I), possession of diazepam (Count II), battery on a law enforcement officer (Count III) and possession of drug paraphernalia (Count IV). In Case No. 91-2886, the state charged appellant with trafficking in cocaine. These cases proceeded together in the trial court.
On June 24, 1991, at one hearing, appellant appeared before the court and entered an open plea of guilty to all charges in both cases.
On September 10, 1991, appellant moved to withdraw his plea of guilty in Case No. 91-2868 on the grounds that he failed to fully understand the terms of the substantial assistance agreement and that the conduct of law enforcement made his performance of the agreement impossible. The motion also stated, “Other grounds to be argued ore tenus.” At the hearing on the motion to withdraw the plea, appellant, in addition to his arguments regarding the substantial assistance agreement, argued he knew neither that he was facing nine to twenty-two years when he entered his plea nor that the maximum penalty for trafficking was thirty years.
The record contains sufficient evidence to show appellant understood the terms of the substantial assistance agreement and that his failure to perform the agreement did not result from the conduct of law enforcement. The trial court sentenced appellant in Case No. 91-2868 on Count I to a three-year mandatory minimum term of incarceration and ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine plus a surcharge. The court ordered concurrent three-year terms on Counts II and III and time served on Count IV. This sentence conforms to appellant’s admitted understanding that he thought he was facing seven to nine years imprisonment. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's order denying appellant’s motion to withdraw his plea and his conviction and sentence in Case No. 91-2868.
While the record is not clear that appellant asserted his arguments regarding the substantial assistance agreement as the basis for moving to withdraw his plea in Case No. 91-2886, we reach the same conclusion on this issue as we have in Case No. 91-2868.
However, the record does not establish that appellant understood he was facing nine to twenty-two years imprisonment on his plea of guilty in this case.
The trial court applied a permitted guidelines range of five and one-half to twelve years imprisonment when it sen tenced appellant in Case No. 91-2886 to nine years incarceration with a three-year mandatory minimum term, to be served consecutive to the sentence in Case No. 91-2868, and a $50,000 fine plus a surcharge.
The trial court apparently rejected his counsel’s testimony that he told appellant he was facing nine to twenty-two years.
The trial court stated:
But I have to give the Defendant the benefit of the doubt since it was stated, but at the time of the change of plea seven to nine years was the range. So we’re going to proceed on the assumption it was seven to nine years, which would make the range actually — what is it, five-and-a-half to twelve that would be the range.
While the trial court concluded appellant understood the sentencing range to be seven to nine years, the trial court’s consecutive sentence amounted to twelve years incarceration. The record supports appellant’s contention that he misunderstood the length of his sentence. Therefore, we hold the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in Case No. 91-2886. See Elias v. State, 531 So. 2d 418 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988).
Accordingly, we affirm appellant’s conviction and sentence in Case No. 91-2868. We reverse appellant’s conviction and sentence in Case No. 91-2886 and remand this cause with instructions to the trial court to grant appellant’s motion to withdraw his plea of guilty.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED.
GLICKSTEIN, C.J., DELL, J„ and OWEN, WILLIAM G, Jr., Senior Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
State v. Hossain Rajaee, 745 So. 2d 469 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)…1995) (cause remanded for hearing to determine whether the defendant should be allowed to withdraw his plea where it was unclear from the record whether the defendant understood that he was entering a plea to an enhanced sentence); Edwards v. State, 610 So. 2d 707 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992) (trial court should have granted defendant’s motion to withdraw his plea where the defendant misunderstood the length of the sentence); Elias v. State, 531 So. 2d 418 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988) (defendant should have been allowed to wit…
-
Soto v. State, 780 So. 2d 168 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
Authorities Cited
- Elias v. State, 531 So. 2d 418 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)