ROBERT WILKINS, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court upheld a sentencing that exceeded the statutory maximum for vehicular homicide, holding that when the guideline sentence itself exceeds the statutory maximum, courts are authorized to impose the guideline sentence rather than being constrained by the statutory cap.
A trial court may impose a guidelines sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum. When the 'true' recommended guidelines sentence exceeds the statutory maximum, the court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence.
[1] When the recommended sentencing guidelines sentence exceeds the statutory maximum for an offense, a court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence.
[2] A court is authorized to impose a recommended guidelines sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum if the 'true' recommended guidelines sentence surpasses that maximum.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“if the guidelines sentence — i.e., the "true" recommended guidelines sentence— exceeds the statutory maximum, the court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence”
Establishes the core holding that courts may impose guideline sentences exceeding statutory maximums
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRobert Wilkins pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide from an accident on February 12, 1994. Under the sentencing guidelines, his median recommended sen…
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SHAW, Justice.
We have for review Wilkins v. State, 693 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), based on conflict with Myers v. State, 696 So. 2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. We approve the result in Wilkins as explained below.
Robert Wilkins pled guilty to vehicular homicide based on an accident that took place February 12,1994. His median recommended sentence1 under the guidelines was 74.2 months, and his recommended range was between 55.65 and 92.75 months. The statutory maximum sentence for the offense was 60 months. The court sentenced him to 85 months, and the district court affirmed. Wilkins claims that because a portion of the recommended range did not exceed the statutory maximum, the court erred in sentencing him above the statutory maximum. We disagree.
We addressed this issue in Mays v. State, No. 90,826, — So. 2d - (Fla. July 16, 1998), wherein we construed the 1994 amendment to the sentencing guidelines. We held that if the guidelines sentence — i.e., the “true” recommended guidelines sentence— exceeds the statutory maximum, the court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence. In the present case, the “true” recommended guidelines sentence, i.e., 85 months, exceeds the statutory maximum, i.e., 60 months. The court thus was authorized to impose the guidelines sentence. We approve the result in Wilkins on this issue.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and OVERTON and WELLS, JJ., concur. PARIENTE, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with an opinion, in which KOGAN and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur. . See § 921.0014, Fla. Stat. (1993) (explaining that the median recommended sentence is equal to "total sentence points minus 28”).
PARIENTE, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
For the reasons expressed in my concurring in part and dissenting in part opinion in Mays v. State, No. 90,826, — So. 2d — (Fla. July 16, 1998), I concur in part and dissent in part. Accordingly, in my opinion, the maximum sentence the trial court could impose beyond the 60 month statutory maximum was 74.2 months, which was the “recommended sentence” based on scoresheet calculations.
KOGAN and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.
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Efrim Chappell v. State, 719 So. 2d 334 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)…PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Wilkins v. State, 693 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), approved, 713 So. 2d 1014 (Fla.1998); Kelly v. State, 552 So. 2d 206 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), rev. denied, 563 So. 2d 632 (Fla.1990). DAUKSCH, W. SHARP and ANTOON, JJ., concur.…
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Smith v. State, 719 So. 2d 1254 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)…error to sentence him beyond the recommended guidelines sentence of 14.63 years. This court’s decision and opinion in Myers was quashed in State v. Myers, 713 So. 2d 1013 (Fla.1998). On the authority of the latter case, as well as Wilkins v. State, 713 So. 2d 1014 (Fla.1998), and Mays v. State, 717 So. 2d 515, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S387 (Fla.1998), we hold that the 17 year sentence on Count II and the 17 year sentence on Count III were each legal. Each of those sentences is therefore affirmed. Appellant asserts,…
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Sabine v. State, 198 So. 3d 1050 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Wilkins v. State, 713 So. 2d 1014 (Fla.1998); State v. Myers, 713 So. 2d 1013 (Fla.1998); Vemold v. State, 376 So. 2d 1166 (Fla.1979); Dominguez v. State, 98 So. 3d 198 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012); Hughes v. State, 22 So. 3d 132 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009); Brown v. State, 827 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 2d DC…
Authorities Cited
- Myers v. State, 696 So. 2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)
- Wilkins v. State, 693 So. 2d 62 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)