VICTOR ROBINSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Victor Robinson appealed the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence for armed robbery. The trial court erroneously imposed a forty-year sentence based on treating armed robbery as a life felony, when it is actually a first-degree felony subject to a thirty-year maximum sentence under Florida law.
Armed robbery is a first-degree felony, not a life felony. The trial court erred in applying section 775.082(3)(a) and imposing a forty-year sentence. The maximum sentence for a first-degree felony under section 775.082(3)(b) is thirty years.
[1] A sentence imposed under a statute that classifies a crime incorrectly may be corrected as an illegal sentence.
[2] Armed robbery is classified as a first-degree felony, not a life felony, under Florida law.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“armed robbery is not a life felony but a first degree felony”
Establishes the controlling legal classification of armed robbery under Florida law
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobinson was charged with two counts of armed robbery in 1981, convicted in 1983, and sentenced to forty years on each count to run concurrently. The …
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DOWNEY, JAMES C., Senior Judge.
This matter is before the court upon an appeal by Victor Robinson from an order which denied his motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a).
It appears that Robinson was charged with committing two counts of armed robbery in 1981, convicted of said crimes in 1983 and sentenced to forty years in prison on each count to run concurrently.
By virtue of the present motion Robinson seeks correction of his sentence because he contends the trial court erred in sentencing him to forty years in prison. The trial court relied upon section 775.082(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1981) in sentencing Robinson to forty years in prison, no doubt because the court considered armed robbery to be a life felony. However, Robinson correctly contends that armed robbery is not a life felony but a first degree felony as this court held in Rucker v. State,
553 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), rev. denied, 563 So. 2d 634 (Fla.1990). Section 775.082(3)(b), Florida Statutes (1981), the relevant statute in this case, provides that a person convicted of a felony of the first degree shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years or, when specifically provided by statute, by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment.
Accordingly, we reverse the order appealed from and remand the cause to the trial court with directions to grant Robinson’s motion to correct sentence and to proceed to resentence him in accordance with section 775.082(3)(b), Florida Statutes (1981).
DELL, C.J., and GUNTHER, J., concur. . Appellee’s reliance upon State v. Rucker, 613 So. 2d 460 (Fla.1993) is misplaced. The Rucker therein is not the Rucker herein nor is the subject matter of that case relevant to the present case.
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Cited By
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Mills v. State, 642 So. 2d 15 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)…under these statutes, the defendant could only be sentenced to: (a) life; or (b) if a term of years is imposed, then the term can not exceed thirty years. Rucker, 553 So. 2d at 213. This court relied upon Rucker in its decision in Robinson v. State, 621 So. 2d 556 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993).3 This court interpreted the interplay between section 775.082(3)(b) and statutory authority for life sentences in a contrary fashion in Salas v. State, 589 So. 2d 343 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). In Salas, the defendant was convicted o…
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Green v. State, 630 So. 2d 1193 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…ee felonies but, instead, discusses sentences imposed for life felonies pursuant to the pre-1983 version of section 775.082(3)(a), Florida Statutes. Notwithstanding this distinction, the fourth district recently followed Rucker in Robinson v. State, 621 So. 2d 556 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993), wherein it reversed concurrent 40-year sentences imposed for two counts of armed robbery. Although the decisions in Rucker and Robinson obviously appear to support Appellant’s position, the fourth district ruled to the contrary…
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Simpkins v. State, 784 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)…nce. The State acknowledges that the court sentenced Simpkins while under a mistaken impression about the classification of his robbery offense. Armed robbery is a first-degree felony, not a life felony, for sentencing purposes. Robinson v. State, 621 So. 2d 556, 557 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993), overruled on other grounds, 642 So. 2d 644 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). As such, it is not excepted from application of the Youthful Offender Act. Richardson v. State, 398 So. 2d 1010, 1011 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Accordingly, we re…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Rucker, 613 So. 2d 460 (Fla. 1993)
- Robinson v. State, 458 So. 2d 1132 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
- Gamma Dev. Corp. v. Am. Pioneer Sav. Bank, 553 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)
- Rucker v. State, 553 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)