STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
BERNARD KING, 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.
Florida appeals the trial court's refusal to assess legal constraint points in the sentencing guidelines for Bernard King's resisting arrest conviction. The court reverses and remands for resentencing, holding that King remained under legal constraint even though his control release was revoked before the crime, as he was still subject to the Florida Parole Commission's control until arrested.
The court held that King remained under legal constraint despite control release revocation because he was still under the control of the Florida Parole Commission/Control Release Authority until taken into custody. The 36 legal constraint points should have been assessed, raising the score to 167 points and the recommended range to the third cell. The case is remanded for the trial court to determine whether to increase the sentence in light of the corrected guideline score.
[1] Points for legal constraint are assessed when a defendant is under the control of the Florida Parole Commission/Control Release Authority, even if control release has bee…
[2] A defendant remains under legal constraint between the revocation of control release and their apprehension for return to incarceration.
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“While King remained outside of prison between the time the decision was made to revoke his control release and the time he was taken into custody to continue his period of incarceration, he was still under the control of the Florida Parole Commission/Control Release Authority and, therefore, still under constraint.”
Establishes the court's holding that legal constraint persists after control release revocation until actual arrest and incarceration.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceKing was under control release when it was revoked and a warrant was issued. During the arrest attempt, King resisted, picked up a rake, and approache…
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 Control Release cases and more on FLexlaw
PETERSON, Judge.
The state appeals Bernard King’s guideline sentence based upon the trial court’s refusal to assess points for legal constraint. We reverse.
King was under “control release” pursuant to section 947.16, Florida Statutes (1992), but the release was revoked and a warrant was issued for his arrest. When an officer attempted to serve the warrant and place King in custody, he resisted, picked up a rake and approached the officer in a menacing manner. He was then charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest with violence. King pled guilty to resisting arrest with the agreement that the maximum sentence could be five years incarceration and a $5,000 fine.
Based on a score of 131 points which yielded a second cell permitted range of one to three and one-half years, the trial court imposed a three year term of incarceration. The score would have been 167 points if 36 legal constraint points had been added and would have allowed a sentence within the third cell permitted range of one to four and one-half years.
In Douglas v. State, 606 So. 2d 1281 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), this court interpreted rule 3.701(d)(6), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, which provides for assessment of points for legal constraint, to include control release. King’s argument against the assessment of legal constraint points was that although he had been under “control release”, it had been revoked before he committed the new crimes. However, the effect of the revocation was that King was to return to prison rather than remain outside of prison under control release. While King remained outside of prison between the time the decision was made to revoke his control release and the time he was taken into custody to continue his period of incarceration, he was still under the control of the Florida Parole Commission/Control Release Authority and, therefore, still under constraint.
We recognize that the assessment of 36 additional points on the category four score-sheet advances the guidelines to the third cell, and that King’s sentence of three years still falls within the recommended and permitted range of the third cell. However, we remand for the trial court to determine whether an increase in the sentence is appropriate in view of the change in the score-sheet. Our remand is not be interpreted as a recommendation that such an increase take place; we leave that determination to the complete discretion of the trial court.
The judgment of conviction is affirmed, the sentence vacated and we remand for resentencing within the guidelines.
JUDGEMENT AFFIRMED; SENTENCE VACATED; REMANDED.
THOMPSON, J., concurs.
W. SHARP, J., dissents with opinion.
. Jones v. State, 559 So. 2d 204 (Fla.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 907, 111 S.Ct. 276, 112 L.Ed.2d 232 (1990); Bryant v. State, 591 So. 2d 1102 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992); Ruffin v. State, 589 So. 2d 403 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Jones v. State, 559 So. 2d 204 (Fla. 1990)
- Bryant v. State, 591 So. 2d 1102 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)
- Giles v. Green, 498 U.S. 907 (U.S. 1990)
- Ruffin v. State, 589 So. 2d 403 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)
- Douglas v. State, 606 So. 2d 1281 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)