DALE WEEKS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1997-07-22
No. 96-1335
MINER, ALLEN and LAWRENCE, JJ., concur.
696 So. 2d 1319 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1997) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

Dale Weeks appeals his convictions and sentences for battery, sexual battery, and false imprisonment. The court affirmed his convictions but reversed and remanded for resentencing because the trial judge imposed sentences exceeding the statutory maximums for second-degree and third-degree felonies.


Holding

The court held that admission of the rebuttal testimony was harmless error and affirmed the convictions. However, the court held that Weeks' sentences for sexual battery (15 years per count) and false imprisonment (5 years) exceeded the statutory maximums (15 years for second-degree felonies and 5 years for third-degree felonies) and were therefore illegal.


Headnotes

[1] Sentences exceeding statutory maximums for the convicted offenses are illegal and require remand for resentencing.

[2] Admission of rebuttal testimony concerning the stolen status of a vehicle is harmless error when there is no reasonable possibility that the error affected the verdict.

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Key Quotes

“The statutory maximum for a second-degree felony however is fifteen years. § 775.082(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (1995). The statutory maximum for a third-degree felony is five years. § 775.082(3)(d), Fla. Stat. (1995). Weeks' sentences for sexual battery and false imprisonment exceed the statutory máximums for his crimes and thus are illegal.”

Establishes that the trial judge's sentences violated statutory maximum penalties and were therefore illegal.

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Facts & Procedural History

Weeks was convicted by jury of battery (lesser-included offense of aggravated battery), three counts of sexual battery not likely to cause serious bod…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Dale Weeks (Weeks) argues, in this direct appeal, that his sentences are illegal. Weeks’ sentences exceed the statutory máxi-mums for his crimes; we thus remand for resentencing. We affirm Weeks’ convictions.

A jury found Weeks guilty of battery, a lesser-included offense of the charged crime (aggravated battery); three counts of sexual battery not likely to cause serious bodily injury, lesser-included offenses of the charged crimes (sexual battery likely to cause serious bodily injury); and false imprisonment, as charged. (The jury found Weeks not guilty of petit theft.) These crimes were committed on September 5, 1995, in Walton County.

Weeks first argues that the trial judge erred in admitting rebuttal testimony that the truck Weeks was driving on the night of his crimes was reported stolen by its owner. (Weeks testified earlier on cross-examination that he borrowed the truck from one of his customers.) The trial judge admitted the evidence, with an instruction to the jury to consider the evidence for the limited purpose of evaluating Weeks’ credibility. We have reviewed the record in this case, which includes photographic evidence of the victim, and medical evidence in both graphic and testimonial form, and we are satisfied that there' is no reasonable possibility that the alleged error affected the verdict. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla.1986).

We consequently hold that admission of the complained-of evidence was harmless, and affirm Weeks’ convictions.

The trial judge sentenced Weeks to fifteen years in prison on each count of sexual battery (second-degree felonies), followed by five years of probation on each count; to five years in prison on the single count of false imprisonment (a third-degree felony), followed by five years of probation; and six months in jail for simple battery. Although the prison and probation portions of the sentence on each individual count were consecutive each to the other, sentences on all of the various counts were made concurrent. The statutory maximum for a second-degree felony however is fifteen years. § 775.082(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (1995).

The statutory maximum for a third-degree felony is five years. § 775.082(3)(d), Fla. Stat. (1995).

Weeks’ sentences for sexual battery and false imprisonment exceed the statutory máximums for his crimes and thus are illegal. Black v. State, 658 So. 2d 672 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) (holding illegal a twenty-year sentence for a second-degree felony and remanding for re-sentencing, despite that defendant pleaded unreservedly); see also Pearson v. State, 660 So. 2d 406 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) (holding illegal a thirty-year sentence for a third-degree felony, observing that the maximum sentence for a third-degree felony is five years, and remanding for imposition of a legal sentence).

The instant case therefore must be remanded for resentencing. Id.

We accordingly affirm Weeks’ convictions, reverse his sentences on the felony counts and remand for resentencing within the statutory máximums for these offenses.

MINER, ALLEN and LAWRENCE, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Williams v. State, 977 So. 2d 733 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)
    …essive. Therefore, we treat the illegal sentence claim as having been filed pursuant to rule 3.800(a), see Robinson v. State, 916 So. 2d 974 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), and remand for the trial court to address the merits of this claim. See Weeks v. State, 696 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART. BENTON, LEWIS, and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.…
  • Faron Jones v. State, 214 So. 3d 774 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017)
    …dt v. State, 884 So. 2d 471, 471 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). The sentence imposed totaled twenty years—ten years in prison followed by ten years of probation. This exceeded the fifteen year statutory maximum and was, therefore, illegal. See Weeks v. State, 696 So. 2d 1319, 1319 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (fifteen years in prison followed by five years of probation was an illegal sentence for the second degree felony of sexual battery); see also, Barthel v. State, 862 So. 2d 28, 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (“An illegal sentence ca…

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