WILLIAM DAVID CARROLL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1999-08-17
No. 98-3569
Wolf, J., Davis, J., Browning, J.
742 So. 2d 820 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1999)

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

The court vacated and remanded sentences for reckless driving and fleeing and eluding a police officer because the trial court imposed sentences exceeding the statutory maximum penalties for these misdemeanors.


Holding

Sentences exceeding the statutory maximum penalties for misdemeanor reckless driving and fleeing and eluding are illegal and must be vacated and remanded for resentencing.


Headnotes

[1] A sentence exceeding the statutory maximum penalty for a misdemeanor offense constitutes an illegal sentence remediable as fundamental error.

Previewing 1 of 1 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

Facts & Procedural History

Appellant Carroll was convicted of reckless driving (a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days on first conviction or six months on subsequent convict…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

In this direct criminal appeal, appellant raises two sentencing errors: (1) that the trial court incorrectly sentenced him to 23.6 months in prison for reckless driving, a misdemeanor; and (2) that the trial court incorrectly sentenced him to 23.6 months in prison for fleeing and eluding a police officer, also a misdemeanor. The State correctly concedes error. The first sentence at issue was for a reckless driving conviction which is punishable, upon a first conviction, by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days, and on a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for not more than six months. See § 316.192(2), Fla. Stat. (1997). The second sentence at issue was for fleeing and eluding a police officer which is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year. See § 316.1935(1), Fla. Stat. (1997). Under the State v. Mancino, 714 So. 2d 429 (Fla.1998) definition of an illegal sentence, these sentences are illegal, and remediable as fundamental error. See Nelson v. State, 719 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998).

Accordingly, we vacate appellants’ sentences on Counts II and III, and remand the case for resentencing as to those counts. Otherwise, the judgment and sentence is affirmed.

VACATED and REMANDED.

WOLF, DAVIS and BROWNING, JJ., CONCUR.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw