ZAYNELLER GATES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Zayneller Gates appeals the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). The court reverses, holding that consecutive mandatory minimum sentences are improper when multiple offenses against separate victims occur in a single continuous sequence of time and location, rather than as separate and distinct acts.
The court holds that consecutive mandatory minimum sentences are improper when the offenses committed against separate victims occur in a single continuous sequence of time and location. The court distinguished State v. Thomas, which involved a temporal and locational break between offenses, and found that under Gates's allegations, the Thomas holding is not dispositive.
[1] Consecutive mandatory minimum sentences may not be imposed when offenses arise from a single criminal episode, even if multiple victims are involved.
[2] A break in time or change of location is a key factor in determining whether offenses against separate victims constitute separate criminal episodes for the purpose of im…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The key to the Thomas opinion is the break in time, albeit minimal, and the change of location, with respect to the offenses committed against the separate victims.”
Establishes the critical distinction in Thomas between temporal/locational separation and continuous offenses
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1983, Gates was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was sentenced to fifteen years (with a thr…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant, Zayneller Gates, appeals the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence, brought under the provisions of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We reverse and remand for further consideration.
In 1983, appellant was convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was sentenced to a fifteen-year term with a three-year mandatory minimum for the aggravated battery, and to a five-year term with a three-year mandatory minimum for the aggravated assault, the mandatory three-year sentences to be served consecutively. Appellant contends the imposition of consecutive mandatory minimum sentences is illegal, because both charges arose out of the same criminal episode. The order denying the motion was predicated on the trial court’s review of the record, which indicated that appellant was convicted of two separate offenses involving two separate victims. In light of the separate offenses committed against separate victims, the trial court found the ruling in State v. Thomas, 487 So. 2d 1043 (Fla.1986), to be dispositive of the issue. We cannot agree.
In Thomas, the offender committed “two . separate and distinct offenses involving two separate and distinct victims,” i.e., attempted first-degree murder with a firearm of one victim, and aggravated assault with a firearm of the other. 487 So. 2d at 1044. The first victim was shot inside her home. She fled outside, and as her son came to her aid, the defendant shot at him. On those facts, the supreme court concluded the legislature intended that trial courts should have discretion to order the mandatory minimum sentences applicable when a firearm is used in the commission of the charged offenses, to be served either concurrently or consecutively. The key to the Thomas opinion is the break in time, albeit minimal, and the change of location, -with respect to the offenses committed against the separate victims. See Gardner v. State, 515 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).
In this case, appellant alleged the first shot he fired at the intended victim missed its mark, struck a door panel, ricocheted, and hit the unintended victim. Appellant fired two more shots which actually struck the intended victim. The trial court’s order does not dispute appellant’s account of the facts. Assuming appellant’s account is accurate, the Thomas holding is not dispositive, because the offenses committed against the two separate victims in this case occurred in a single continuous sequence of time and location.
If the circumstances of the offenses are as alleged, the imposition of consecutive mandatory minimum sentences is improper. See Daniels v. State, 595 So. 2d 952 (Fla.1992); Palmer v. State, 438 So. 2d 1 (Fla.1983); Cofield v. State, 602 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992); Knight v. State, 509 So. 2d 1254 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Ward v. State, 630 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993); Pena v. State, 619 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993); Lewis v. State, 502 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987).
Accordingly, the order denying appellant’s rule 3.800(a) motion to correct illegal sentence is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further consideration in light of the views expressed in this opinion.
ZEHMER, C.J., and JOANOS and BARFIELD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Lifred v. State, 643 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)…tinct, the crimes must be separated by time and place, and not solely by the distinct act of discharging a firearm against more than one victim, even though Thomas did not reiterate the separate time and place language of Palmer. See Gates v. State, 633 So. 2d 1158, (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Woods v. State, 615 So. 2d 197 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993); Gardner v. State, 515 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Young v. State, 631 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994); Preyer v. State, 575 So. 2d 748 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). We agree that in…
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Christian v. State, 693 So. 2d 990 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)…th the majority that Appellant’s consecutive minimum mandatory sentences require reversal under this court’s decisions interpreting State v. Thomas, 487 So. 2d 1043 (Fla.1986). Permenter v. State, 635 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Gates v. State, 633 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Gardner v. State, 515 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). However, I write to express my belief that the law on this issue is correctly stated in Lifred v. State, 643 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)(interpreting Thomas; en bane). In t…
Authorities Cited (11 total)
- Dean v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 438 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1983)
- Berlie Daniels, Jr. v. State, 595 So. 2d 952 (Fla. 1992)
- State v. Thomas, 487 So. 2d 1043 (Fla. 1986)
- Gardner v. State, 515 So. 2d 408 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
- Isidro Santiago Pena v. State, 619 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993)
- Cofield v. State, 602 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- Lewis v. State, 502 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
- Snell v. State, 502 So. 2d 489 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
- Ward v. State, 630 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)
- Kohn v. City OF Miami, 630 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993)