JEFFREY A. COLE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1998-08-14
No. 96-02405
THREADGILL and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.
716 So. 2d 325 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1998) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Holding

The court held that a life felony conviction cannot be enhanced by the habitual violent felony offender statute and that sentencing scoresheets must be corrected for offenses occurring before a statutory amendment.


Facts & Procedural History

The defendant was convicted of attempted premeditated murder of a law enforcement officer and grand theft auto. The trial court imposed a sentence fin…

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Opinion of the Court
FRANK, Acting Chief Judge.

FRANK, Acting Chief Judge.

Jeffrey A. Cole challenges his conviction for attempted premeditated murder of a law enforcement officer. He asserts several sentencing errors. We affirm the conviction, but reverse for resentencing.

Cole was convicted of violation of section 784.07(3), Florida Statutes (1993), attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, a life felony with a twenty-five-year minimum mandatory term. § 775.0825, Fla. Stat. (1993). Because a life felony cannot be enhanced by use of the habitual violent felony offender statute, that portion of the judgment and sentence finding Cole to be a habitual offender must be stricken and he must be resentenced accordingly. See Williams v. State, 678 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996).

Because Cole’s offenses occurred on September 17, 1995, his scoresheet was improperly enhanced by 2.0 for law enforcement protection. The enhancement factor applies to attempted murder in the first degree only if committed on or after October 1, 1995. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.702(d)(14); § 775.0823(2), Fla. Stat. (1995). The score-sheet must be corrected prior to resentencing.

The trial court sentenced Cole on convictions for grand theft auto and attempted murder. The trial court orally pronounced that the sentences would run concurrently. Because the written sentence fails to state that the sentences are concurrent, the sentencing document must be corrected to conform to the oral pronouncement.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for resentencing.

THREADGILL and CASANUEVA, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Johnson v. State, 847 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
    …ttempted murder of a law enforcement officer, because that offense is a life felony and life felonies were not subject to enhanced punishment as a habitual offender under the statute in effect at the time of the offense. We agree. See Cole v. State, 716 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). This claim is cognizable in a 3.800(a) motion. See McMaster-Wade v. State, 830 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). We therefore remand to the trial court to strike Johnson’s habitual offender designation on counts one through six. It…

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