CARLTON DAVIS, PETITIONER,
v.
HARRY K. SINGLETARY, JR., SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, RESPONDENT

Fla. 2d DCA | 1995-07-26
No. 95-00999
ALTENBERND, A.C.J., and BLUE and FULMER, JJ., concur.
659 So. 2d 1126 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1995) Positive Treatment
Cited by 20 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.

Synopsis

Carlton Davis, a DOC inmate, petitions for mandamus to enforce the terms of his plea agreement, which all parties contemplated would result in him serving only five additional years after receiving ten years of credit against a fifteen-year sentence. The DOC cancelled certain credits based on its interpretation of Florida Statutes section 944.278, reducing Davis's credited time and extending his release date. The court grants the petition and remands for resentencing to effectuate the plea agreement's intent.


Holding

The court recognizes Davis's right to have the terms of his plea agreement enforced. While declining to rule on the DOC's interpretation of section 944.278 generally, the court holds that in this specific case, where all parties contemplated Davis receiving ten years of credit, the trial court must resentence Davis in a manner that effectuates the intent of the plea agreement and accounts for the DOC's cancellation of credits, or allow Davis to withdraw his plea.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court may not direct the manner in which the Department of Corrections calculates credits awarded solely to reduce prison overcrowding.

[2] A negotiated plea agreement that contemplates a specific sentence reduction will be enforced to effectuate the intent of the parties.

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

Key Quotes

“a trial court is without authority to direct the manner in which DOC calculates those credits awarded solely to reduce prison overcrowding”

Establishes the general limit on trial court authority over DOC credit calculations for overcrowding-reduction credits.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Davis was sentenced on April 12, 1992, for violating probation under a split sentence. The plea agreement contemplated that Davis would receive ten ye…

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
THE COURT:

THE COURT:

Carlton Davis, an inmate in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections (“DOC”), petitions this court for writ of mandamus. This petition is Davis’ most recent effort to enforce the terms of a plea agreement under which he was sentenced on April 12, 1992, for violating a term of probation that had previously been imposed as part of a split sentence. Based on the pleadings in the records before us, it appears that all parties to the plea agreement contemplated that Davis would receive credit for ten years1 against a fifteen year sentence. Thus, Davis was actually being sentenced to serve five years for the probation violation. However, as a result of the DOC’s interpretation of section 944.278, Florida Statutes (1993), Davis was not awarded a full ten years of credit.2

In response to a motion filed by Davis, the trial court entered an order to award proper credit time which set out the intent of the plea agreement and ordered the DOC to “forthwith re-calculate the Defendant’s gain time credits in accord with the law which was applicable to the Defendant’s situation at the time that he was sentenced, on April 12,1992 and at the time that his offenses were committed in 1987.”3 The DOC filed a petition for certiorari challenging the trial court’s order on several grounds. This court denied the petition for certiorari by order dated January 18, 1994, which recognized Davis’ right to have the terms of his plea agreement enforced. Davis now seeks mandamus relief alleging that the DOC continues to challenge the application of credit intended by the plea agreement.

We do not rule on the merits of DOC’s interpretation of section 944.278 as it may apply to other cases. However, we do acknowledge that a trial court is without authority to direct the manner in which DOC calculates those credits awarded solely to reduce prison overcrowding. Nevertheless, in this case, Davis entered into a negotiated plea that all parties to the agreement contemplated would result in Davis serving an additional five years of incarceration. If Davis receives ten years of credit against his fifteen year sentence, it appears that he may be entitled to immediate release.

In order to expedite these proceedings, we treat the petition for mandamus as a motion to enforce the plea agreement and transfer this matter to the sentencing judge who shall resentence Davis, within twenty (20) days of the date this order becomes final, in a manner that effectuates the intent of the plea agreement and takes into account the effect of the DOC’s cancellation of 1190 days of credit or allow Davis to withdraw his plea.

This order shall become final unless a motion for rehearing is filed within seven (7) days of the date of this order. ALTENBERND, A.C.J., and BLUE and FULMER, JJ., concur. . Davis was also given jail time credit which is not in dispute.

. Davis was notified by DOC in November 1993 that 1130 days of provisional credits and 60 days of administrative credits that had been applied to the incarcerative portion of his original split sentence had been cancelled and his overall release date was changed from June 18, 1994, to August 3, 1997.

.The trial court may have confused the two types of credits: (1) those which are granted solely to reduce prison overcrowding and which do not become vested rights once they are awarded ("administrative gain time” and "provisional credits”), and (2) those which do become vested rights once they are awarded ("basic” and "incentive" gain time). See Griffin v. Singletary, 638 So. 2d 500 (Fla.1994).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Williams v. The Dep't OF Corr., 734 So. 2d 1132 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999)
    …agree with the trial court’s finding because any attempt to compel enforcement of the negotiated plea agreement would be a usurpation of the DOC’s executive authority. Singletary v. Evans, 676 So. 2d 51, 52 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996); Davis v. Singletary, 659 So. 2d 1126, 1127 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). However, we also agree with Williams’ contention that all parties to the negotiated plea agreement contemplated that, of the fifteen-year sentence, he would only serve eight and a half years, and that the DOC’s forfeiture…
  • Wallace v. State, 793 So. 2d 78 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …redit intended by the agreement. The D.O.C. has authority to cancel credits. However, we have held that a defendant is entitled to withdraw his plea when such a cancellation results in altering a negotiated plea agreement. See Davis v. Singletary, 659 So. 2d 1126 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). In order to expedite these proceedings, we treat the petition for writ of certiorari as a motion to enforce plea agreement. Accordingly, this matter is transferred to the sentencing judge, who shall resentence Wallace in a manner…
  • …on, he had already been awarded incentive gain time. Both basic and incentive gain time become vested rights once awarded, subject to all other applicable statutory conditions. Waldrup v. Dugger, 562 So. 2d 687, 694 (Fla. 1990); Davis v. Singletary, 659 So. 2d 1126, 1127 n. 3 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). Thus, the incentive gain time already earned and calculated is properly included in determining whether Phillips was lawfully in custody at the time of the commencement of commitment proceedings. We appreciate the dis…

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