WILLIAM A. LAWTON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1999-03-31
No. 98-03284
PATTERSON, A.C.J., and CASANUEVA and SALCINES, JJ., Concur.
731 So. 2d 60 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1999) Positive Treatment
Cited by 36 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

William Lawton appeals the trial court's second denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The court reverses and remands for resentencing because Lawton's twelve-year sentence imposed upon probation revocation exceeded the five-year suspended sentence limitation, constituting a patently illegal sentence that must be corrected despite procedural bar arguments.


Holding

A patently illegal sentence must be corrected despite procedural bar arguments based on successiveness, as substantive due process protects fundamental rights from governmental encroachment. The trial court must resentence Lawton because his exposure to imprisonment upon probation revocation was legally limited to the five-year suspended sentence, not the twelve-year sentence imposed.


Headnotes

[1] A suspended sentence of incarceration followed by a period of supervision constitutes a "true split sentence" when the period of supervision is shorter than the suspended…

[2] A defendant's exposure to a prison sentence upon violation of supervision is legally limited to the original suspended incarceration period of a true split sentence.

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Key Quotes

“Upon violation of his supervision, Lawton's exposure to a prison sentence was legally limited to five years.”

Establishes the legal principle that a true split sentence limits the defendant's exposure upon violation to the originally imposed suspended sentence

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Facts & Procedural History

Lawton received a true split sentence of five years' imprisonment suspended with supervision and special conditions. Upon violation of supervision, th…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

William Lawton, for the second time, challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to correct sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). Previously, this court reversed the trial court’s order denying relief and remanded for further proceedings as the record attached to the trial court’s order failed to refute the allegation in Lawton’s motion. See Lawton v. State, 711 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). Now, as the State concedes, we are compelled to reverse and remand for resentencing because the trial court’s second order and attachments fail to refute Lawton’s claim that his sentence is illegal.

After Lawton violated a probationary sentence, the trial court imposed a sentence of five years’ imprisonment, suspended the incarceration, and placed Law-ton on supervision with special conditions. The sentence of five years’ imprisonment, suspended, constitutes a “true split sentence.” See State v. Powell, 703 So. 2d 444 (Fla.1997) (holding both those sentences in which the entire portion of the incarceration is suspended, and those in which the period of supervision imposed is a shorter period than the suspended portion of the sentence, are “true split sentences”). Upon violation of his supervision, Lawton’s exposure to a prison sentence was legally limited to five years. See Poore v. State, 531 So. 2d 161, 164 (Fla.1988); State v. Cairo, 695 So. 2d 885 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997).

Subsequently, Lawton violated the terms of his supervision and the trial court imprisoned him for twelve years. Lawton then filed his first motion to correct illegal sentence, which the trial court denied. Lawton failed to appeal the trial court’s order denying relief. He then filed a second motion to correct illegal sentence, which the trial court again denied, both on its merits and as a successive motion. Lawton appealed this order. On appeal of the second order denying relief, this court reversed and remanded for the trial court to revisit Lawton’s motion in light of our determination that Lawton’s sentence of five years was a true split sentence. Following remand, the trial court again denied Lawton relief. Explaining that Lawton was not entitled to relief, the trial court determined that he was procedurally barred because his current motion was successive to the denial of the identical issue in the previously filed motion which had not been appealed. This order is the subject of the present appeal.

Upon receipt of Lawton’s second appeal, this court ordered a response from the State regarding the correctness of this court’s determination that Lawton’s five-year sentence was a true split sentence. The State was requested to indicate what the subsequent due process considerations were in barring relief to a defendant based upon successiveness of a motion to correct a patently illegal sentence. The State, in its response, concedes the error in Law-ton’s sentence. The response grants that Lawton’s five-year sentence was a true split sentence and the twelve-year sentence following the revocation of probation was patently illegal.' The State explains that although Lawton was not denied procedural due process through his own failure to appeal the erroneous denial of relief in his first motion to correct illegal sentence, he was denied substantive due process by the trial court’s second erroneous denial. The State concedes the constitutional guarantee of substantive due process protects fundamental rights from governmental encroachment. Lawton’s illegal sentence was a fundamental error which needs to be corrected despite the law of the case doctrine because the result is a manifest injustice to Lawton. Accordingly, we reverse the order denying relief to Lawton.

Reversed and remanded for resentencing.

PATTERSON, A.C.J., and CASANUEVA and SALCINES, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By (18 total)

  • Figueroa v. State, 84 So. 3d 1158 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)
    …clude that the circumstances of this case present the “uncommon and extraordinary circumstances” constituting manifest injustice. See Stephens, 974 So. 2d at 457-58; Miller v. State, 988 So. 2d 138, 139 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); see also Lawton v. State, 731 So. 2d 60, 61 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (concluding illegal sentence was fundamental error that needed to be corrected because the result was a manifest injustice to the defendant). Based on the foregoing, we treat Figueroa’s appeal as a petition for writ of habeas…
  • Bronk v. State, 25 So. 3d 701 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010)
    …ward of jail credit is clearly incorrect as a matter of law and a failure to correct that error would result in manifest injustice. See State v. McBride, 848 So. 2d 287 (Fla.2003); Cillo v. State, 913 So. 2d 1233 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Lawton v. State, 731 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); Allen v. State, 989 So. 2d 731 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). Section 921.161(1), Florida Statutes (2006), provides in pertinent part that “the court imposing a sentence shall allow a defendant credit for all of the time she or he spent i…
  • Crotts v. State, 795 So. 2d 1020 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …la.1985) (noting that a change in the law would justify reconsideration of an issue previously raised). Secondly, substantive due process requires that a patently illegal sentence be corrected- despite the law-of-the-case doctrine. Lawton v. State, 731 So. 2d 60 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). In the instant case, if Crotts’s allegations are correct, then it can be determined from the face of the record that his sentence exceeds the statutory maximum for the offense and is patently illegal. Crotts is therefore entitled…

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