ROBERT EARL WILEY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Robert Earl Wiley appealed his habitual felony offender sentence for attempted third-degree murder of a law enforcement officer. The appellate court reversed and remanded for resentencing, finding that the trial court wrongly classified the offense as a second-degree felony when it should have been classified as a third-degree felony under the Florida Supreme Court's holding in State v. Iacovone.
The trial court erred in classifying attempted third-degree murder of a law enforcement officer as a second-degree felony; it is a third-degree felony under Iacovone. Because Iacovone is retroactively applicable, the maximum sentence Wiley could receive with habitual offender enhancement is ten years, not the twenty-five-year sentence imposed.
[1] The enhancement provision for attempted third degree murder of a law enforcement officer under section 784.07, Florida Statutes, applies only to attempted first degree mu…
[2] A conviction for attempted third degree murder of a law enforcement officer, absent other enhancements, is a third degree felony.
Previewing 2 of 4 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“We conclude that the trial court erred in classifying this offense as a second degree felony. Therefore, we reverse for resentencing.”
States the core holding that the offense was misclassified and must be resentenced.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWiley was originally sentenced in 1992 to thirty years as a habitual felony offender for attempted third-degree murder of a law enforcement officer un…
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PER CURIAM.
Robert Earl Wiley, the defendant, appeals his habitual felony offender sentence of fifteen years for the crime of attempted third degree murder of a law enforcement officer. We conclude that the trial court erred in classifying this offense as a second degree felony. Therefore, we reverse for resentencing.
The defendant was originally sentenced on June 17, 1992. At that time, the courts were applying the enhancement provisions of section 784.07, Florida Statutes, which made the crime of attempted third degree murder of a law enforcement officer a life felony. See § 784.07(3), Fla. Stat. (1991). The trial court sentenced the defendant as a habitual felony offender to thirty years with a mandatory minimum term of twenty-five years. We reversed on the ground that habitual felony offender status cannot be used to enhance a life felony offense. See Wiley v. State, 636 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). On remand, the defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years with a mandatory minimum term of twenty-five years.
While the defendant was serving his sentence, the supreme court determined that the enhancement under section 784.07, Florida Statutes, for attempted murder of a law enforcement officer can be applied only to attempted first degree murder. See State v. Iacovone, 660 So. 2d 1371 (Fla.1995). The defendant filed a motion for postconviction relief based on the Iacovone decision, but the motion was summarily denied. We reversed on procedural grounds, see Wiley v. State, 710 So. 2d 724 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), and the trial court then granted the motion and imposed the sentence that is the subject of the present appeal.
We find no error in the application of the habitual offender statute, but we conclude that under the holding in Iacovone, the crime of attempted third degree murder is a third degree felony and not a second degree felony as the trial court assumed. See Iacovone v. State, 639 So. 2d 1108 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), aff'd, 660 So. 2d 1371 (Fla.1995). Because the decision in Iacovone is retroactive, see State v. Stevens, 714 So. 2d 347 (Fla.1998), the defendant is entitled to relief in the present case. With the enhancement authorized by the habitual offender statute, the maximum sentence the defendant could receive for a third degree felony is ten years. Accordingly, we reverse for resentencing.
Reversed.
BARFIELD, C.J., MINER and PADOVANO, JJ., CONCUR.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- State v. Iacovone, 660 So. 2d 1371 (Fla. 1995)
- State v. Solomon Stevens, 714 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1998)
- Iacovone v. State, 639 So. 2d 1108 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)
- Galencare, Inc. v. Blanton, 636 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)
- Wiley v. State, 710 So. 2d 724 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)