DERRICK BRIGGS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Derrick Briggs appeals his trafficking in cocaine conviction and 25-year sentence (with 15-year minimum mandatory) on grounds that it exceeded the guidelines and his written plea petition. The court affirmed, holding that the failure-to-appear agreement signed during the plea hearing was an essential part of the complete plea bargain, which authorized the enhanced sentence when Briggs violated its terms by failing to appear for sentencing.
The court held that the failure-to-appear agreement signed during the plea hearing was an essential part of the complete plea bargain, even though it was not included in the original written plea petition. The court affirmed the enhanced sentence because Briggs breached the agreement by failing to appear for sentencing, which triggered the authorized maximum penalty.
[1] A plea agreement is not complete when the trial court accepts a written petition to enter a plea if the parties continue to negotiate and orally agree to additional terms…
[2] A defendant's express agreement to a "failure to appear agreement" that warns of statutory maximum sentencing for breaching the plea bargain is binding, even if not inclu…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The failure to appear agreement signed by Briggs at the plea hearing was an essential part of the plea bargain. The plea bargain, in its entirety, is not set forth in the petition to enter a plea.”
Establishes that agreements made orally during the plea hearing can be integral to the complete plea bargain even if not included in the written petition.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBriggs entered a plea agreement for cocaine trafficking that initially involved a written plea petition. During the plea hearing, Briggs requested and…
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W. SHARP, Judge.
Briggs appeals from a judgment and sentence for trafficking in cocaine. He received a sentence of 25 years with a 15-year minimum mandatory term, which exceeded the guidelines, and which also exceeded the written plea petition proffered by him and accepted by the trial judge, at the beginning of the plea hearing. The judge explained at the sentencing hearing that he was exceeding the permissible guidelines sentence because Briggs had failed to turn himself in, after receiving a 7-day furlough following the plea hearing, in violation of his Quarterman agreement.1 In fact, Briggs also failed to appear for his sentencing hearing and had been living in North Carolina for four years before being extradited to Florida. We affirm.
In this case, a reading of the transcript of the plea hearing convinces us that Briggs, his defense counsel, the state attorney, and the trial judge were in the process of formulating the terms and conditions of the plea agreement during the whole of the hearing, and thus the terms of the petition to enter a plea, which were accepted by the trial judge at the beginning of the hearing were not complete. When the petition was first tendered to the court, the defense counsel said the balance of the plea hearing would deal with “conditions” relating to the plea. Defense counsel and Briggs both told the trial judge that the plea was conditioned on his receiving a 7-day furlough before reporting to prison and that he would only receive a 15-year minimum mandatory sentence. These conditions were not in the plea petition.
The trial court then asked Briggs to sign a “failure to appear agreement.” That document made it clear that if Briggs failed to appear from furlough, or if he did not appear for sentencing, that the court could sentence him to the statutory maximum for this offense — 30 years. Briggs was asked twice by the trial court whether he understood those consequences. Each time, Briggs replied: “Yes, sir.” Finally, the court asked him whether he agreed to “that.” He replied: “I agree to it.”
The failure to appear document specifically warned Briggs that if he failed to appear for sentencing, he would breach the plea agreement and could be sentenced to the maximum time. At the bottom of the paper, a hand-written paragraph was added:
I understand and agree that if I fail to return from furlough on February 28, 1990, at Rockledge Courthouse, I will have breached my plea agreement and can be sentenced to the maximum sentence provided by law.
Briggs and his defense counsel both signed that document.
It appears to us that the failure to appear agreement signed by Briggs at the plea hearing was an essential part of the plea bargain. The plea bargain, in its entirety, is not set forth in the petition to enter a plea. As the hearing progressed, the defense requested the additional conditions of a furlough and a 15-year sentence. The court orally agreed to that. And, in almost the next breath, the court orally attached conditions to the boon of a furlough being asked by Briggs. Had Briggs and his attorney not agreed to the conditions attached to the furlough, they should have objected at that point. The timing of the court’s acceptance of the plea petition before Briggs assented to the failure to appear agreement, is not determinative, when they occur so close in time as to be obviously dependent one upon the other. This scenario is not logically distinguishable from the one discussed in Quarterman.
AFFIRMED.
COBB and GOSHORN, JJ., concur. . Quarterman v. State, 527 So. 2d 1380 (Fla.1988).
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Citator
Cited By
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Smith v. State, 988 So. 2d 1258 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008)…plea agreement if ratified by the defendant’s clear and unequivocal understanding and acceptance of the terms. Fambro v. State, 581 So. 2d 199, 201 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). The case now before us seems quite similar to what occurred in Briggs v. State, 682 So. 2d 1151 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). In that case, the court accepted Briggs’s plea of guilty to various charges. He was then granted a furlough and ordered to return seven days later for sentencing. When he failed to do so, the court imposed a sentence exceeding t…
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Valentine v. State, 736 So. 2d 706 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)…ot part of the plea agreement .... Since the release was not made part of the plea agreement, neither were the applicable conditions. 651 So. 2d at 243, 244. The state argues that the departure sentence should be affirmed based on Briggs v. State, 682 So. 2d 1151 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). We disagree. In Briggs, the defendant’s acceptance of the plea agreement turned on the court granting Briggs a release prior to sentencing. The plea bargain was not final or complete until the release agreement was worked out. I…
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Jenkins v. State, 706 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)…PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Briggs v. State, 682 So. 2d 1151, 1152 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), rev. denied, 691 So. 2d 1079 (Fla.1997). GRIFFIN, C.J., and GOSHORN and ANTOON, JJ., concur.…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- THE Florida BAR v. Mullins, 527 So. 2d 1380 (Fla. 1988)