CHARLES WILLIAM FLOYD, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court approved a sentencing decision where the trial court imposed six-year concurrent sentences exceeding the statutory maximum of five years for three third-degree felonies. The Court held that when the guidelines-recommended sentence exceeds the statutory maximum, the trial court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence.
The trial court was authorized to exceed the statutory maximum and impose the guidelines-recommended six-year sentences. 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, a court is authorized to impose the guidelines sentence.
[2] A court may impose a sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum if the recommended guidelines sentence is greater than the statutory maximum.
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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 trial courts can exceed statutory maximums when guidelines recommendations exceed them
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCharles William Floyd pleaded nolo contendere to three third-degree felonies: driving with a suspended license, DUI resulting in serious injuries, and…
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SHAW, Justice.
We have for review Floyd v. State, 707 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), based on conflict with Myers v. State, 696 So. 2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), quashed, 713 So. 2d 1013, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S400 (Fla.1998). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. We approve Floyd as explained below.
Charles William Floyd entered a plea of nolo contendere to driving with a suspended license, driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in serious injuries, and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries — all third-degree felonies as charged. The trial court accepted the plea. The median recommended sentence1 under the guidelines was 5.09 years, and the recommended range was between 3.81 years to 6.36 years. The statutory maximum for each of the offenses was five years. The trial court sentenced Floyd to three concurrent six-year terms, and the district court affirmed. He now contends that the court erred in sentencing in excess of 5.09 years. We disagree.
We recently addressed this issue in Mays v. State, 23 Fla. L Weekly S387, 717 So. 2d 515 (Fla.1998), wherein we construed the 1994 amendment to the sentencing guidelines. We explained 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., six years, exceeds the statutory maximum, i.e., five years. The court thus was authorized to exceed the maximum and impose the six-year terms. We approve the result in Floyd on this issue.2
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”).
. We decline to address the other issue raised by Floyd since it was not the basis for our review.
PARIENTE, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in part and dissent in part for the reasons expressed in my opinion in Mays v. State, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S387, S387-88, 717 So. 2d 515 (Fla. 1998) (Pariente, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Accordingly, in my opinion, the maximum sentence the trial court could impose beyond the five-year statutory maximum was 5.09 years, which was the “recommended sentence” based on the scoresheet calculations.
KOGAN and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Cooper v. State, 960 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)…82(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (2005). The trial court, relying on Floyd v. State, found that Appellant’s overall sentence of 20 years was appropriate because it was within the range computed on the guidelines scoresheet. 707 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 1st DCA), aff'd, 721 So. 2d 1163 (Fla.1998).. This ruling is in error. Appellant’s scoresheet shows a “lowest permissible prison sentence” of 140 months (11 years, 8 months) for DUI manslaughter. Because Appellant’s “sentence floor” is not higher than the 15-year statutory maximum…
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Miller v. State, 177 So. 3d 95 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015)…n 1996. What the sentencing court record reflects about when Miller’s offenses occurred will necessarily inform whether the sentencing court could have imposed sentences under those guidelines that exceeded the statutory maximum. See Floyd v. State, 721 So. 2d 1163, 1164 (Fla.1998) (holding that under the 1994 amendments to the sentencing guidelines, “if the guidelines sentence — i.e., the ‘true’ recommended guidelines sentence — exceeds the statutory maximum, the court is authorized to impose the guidelines s…
Authorities Cited
- Mays v. State, 717 So. 2d 515 (Fla. 1998)
- Myers v. State, 696 So. 2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)
- State v. Myers, 713 So. 2d 1013 (Fla. 1998)
- Floyd v. State, 707 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)