STATE OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER,
v.
RODNEY WALTON, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court held that trial courts cannot assess additional sentencing points for firearm possession under Florida's sentencing guidelines when the defendant's sole underlying conviction is for carrying a concealed weapon or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, as the firearm possession is the essential element of those offenses.
It is error for a trial court to assess additional sentencing points for possessing a firearm where the sole underlying crime is carrying a concealed firearm or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The Florida sentencing guidelines do not contemplate the addition of such points where firearm possession is the essential element of the underlying offense.
[1] Additional sentencing points for possessing a firearm cannot be added where the sole underlying crime is carrying a concealed firearm.
[2] Additional sentencing points for possessing a firearm cannot be added where the sole underlying crime is possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“it is error for a trial court to assess additional sentencing points for possessing a firearm where the sole underlying crime is carrying a concealed firearm or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon”
Establishes the core holding that firearm possession cannot be double-counted as both the offense and a sentencing enhancement
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRodney Walton was convicted of carrying or possessing a firearm. At sentencing, the trial court added additional sentencing points for possessing a fi…
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PER CURIAM.
We have for review the decision in State v. Walton, 693 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), which the district court certified to be in conflict with the opinions in State v. Davidson, 666 So. 2d 941 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), Gardner v. State, 661 So. 2d 1274 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995), and Smith v. State, 683 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), review dismissed, 691 So. 2d 1081 (Fla.1997), concerning the issue of whether additional sentencing points for carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime may be added to a defendant’s sentencing score where the defendant is convicted of carrying a concealed weapon or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. Recently, we resolved this conflict in White v. State, 714 So. 2d 440, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S 311 (Fla.1998), wherein we held that it is error for a trial court to assess additional sentencing points for possessing a firearm where the sole underlying crime is carrying a concealed firearm or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In other words, we held that rule 3.702(d)(12) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure and section 921.0014, Florida Statutes (1993), do not contemplate the addition of sentencing points for carrying or possessing a firearm where the carrying or possession of a firearm is the essential element of the underlying offense. In so holding, we approved the Fourth District’s opinion in Galloway v. State, 680 So. 2d 616 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), and quashed the Second District’s decision in White v. State, 689 So. 2d 371 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997).
Therefore, in accordance with our opinion in White, we approve the Fourth District’s decision in Walton.
It is so ordered.
HARDNG, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, KOGAN and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur. WELLS, J., dissents with an opinion.
[*523] WELLS, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent for the reasons stated in my dissenting opinions in Asbell v. State, 715 So. 2d 258 (Fla.1998); and White v. State, 714 So. 2d 440, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S311 (Fla. 1998).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Thompson v. State, 756 So. 2d 39 (Fla. 2000)…firearm involved in making the initial determination of whether to assess such additional sentencing points in a case based solely on the illegal possession of the firearm in question. In fact, we have already decided this issue in State v. Walton, 717 So. 2d 522 (Fla.1998), which involved the same question as to whether the additional twenty-five sentencing points should be assessed for the possession of a semi-automatic weapon where the defendant was convicted and sentenced for the offense of carrying a co…
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Doles v. State, 720 So. 2d 240 (Fla. 1998)…PER CURIAM. We have for review the decision in Doles v. State, 710 So. 2d 769 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), which certified conflict with the opinions in State v. Walton, 693 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), approved, 717 So. 2d 522, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S402 (Fla.1998), and Galloway v. State, 680 So. 2d 616 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), concerning the issue of whether additional sentencing points for carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime may be added to a defen…
Authorities Cited
- White v. State, 714 So. 2d 440 (Fla. 1998)
- Galloway v. State, 680 So. 2d 616 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
- Gardner v. State, 661 So. 2d 1274 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
- State v. Davidson, 666 So. 2d 941 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)
- Smith v. State, 683 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
- Asbell v. State, 715 So. 2d 258 (Fla. 1998)
- Ozell McNABB v. State, 689 So. 2d 371 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
- White v. State, 689 So. 2d 371 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)
- State v. Walton, 693 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)