CEDRIC GUION, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2000-02-25
No. 5D99-467
W. SHARP, PETERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.
753 So. 2d 628 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2000) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 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

Cedric Guion appealed his sentencing as a habitual violent offender under Florida law, challenging whether his Alabama second-degree robbery conviction qualified as a predicate offense and whether the state proved he was the subject of that conviction. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the sentencing, holding that the Alabama offense was substantially similar to Florida robbery and that the state sufficiently proved Guion's identity.


Holding

The Alabama second-degree robbery conviction qualifies as a 'qualified offense' because its elements and penalties are substantially similar to Florida's robbery statute, both requiring force or threat of force and carrying penalties exceeding one year imprisonment. The state sufficiently proved Guion's identity through the Alabama judgment document bearing his name and social security number without requiring fingerprint expert testimony.


Headnotes

[1] A prior conviction from another jurisdiction qualifies as a predicate offense for habitual violent offender status if its elements and penalties are substantially similar…

[2] Robbery in the second degree under Alabama law, which requires the use or threatened use of force during the commission of a theft and is a Class B felony, is substantial…

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Key Quotes

“"Qualified offense" means any offense, substantially similar in elements and penalties to an offense in this state, which is in violation of a law of any other jurisdiction, whether that of another state, the District of Columbia, the United States or any possession of territory thereof, or any foreign jurisdiction, that was punishable under the law of such jurisdiction at the time of its commission by the defendant by death or imprisonment exceeding 1 year.”

Definition of qualified offense under Florida's habitual violent offender statute; establishes the standard for determining whether out-of-state convictions qualify as predicates.

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Facts & Procedural History

Cedric Guion was sentenced as a habitual violent offender under Florida Statutes section 775.084 based on a prior Alabama conviction for second-degree…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Cedric Guión appeals his sentences as an habitual violent offender pursuant to section 775.084, Florida Statutes (1997). Guión asserts that an Alabama conviction for second degree robbery does not qualify as a prior offense to habitualize and that the state failed to show that he was the subject of that conviction. We affirm.

Guión argues that the state never established that the predicate Alabama conviction used to classify him as an habitual violent felony offender was a “qualified” offense pursuant to section 775.084, Florida Statutes (1999). Subsection 775.084(l)(d) provides:

“Qualified offense” means any offense, substantially similar in elements and penalties to an offense in this state, which is in violation of a law of any other jurisdiction, whether that of another state, the District of Columbia, the United States or any possession of territory thereof, or any foreign jurisdiction, that was punishable under the law of such jurisdiction at the time of its commission by the defendant by death or imprisonment exceeding 1 year. The Alabama conviction was for the offense of robbery in the second degree. The required elements for robbery in the second degree under the Alabama Criminal code, section 13A-8-42, are:
§ 13A-8-42. Robbery in the second degree.

(a) A person commits the crime of robbery in the second degree if he violates section 13A-8-43 and he is aided by another person actually present.

(b) Robbery in the second degree is a Class B felony. (Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, § 3306)

Section 13A-8-43 provides:

§ 13A-8-43. Robbery in the third degree.

(a) A person commits the crime of robbery in the third degree if in the course of committing a theft he:

(1) Uses force against the person of the owner or any person present with intent to overcome his physical resistance or physical power of resistance; or (2) Threatens the imminent use of force against the person of the owner or any person present with intent to compel acquiescence to the taking of or escaping with the property.

(b) Robbery in the third degree is a Class C felony. (Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, § 3307.)

The substantively similar Florida Statute on robbery is section 812.13, Florida Statutes (1997), and provides: (1) “Robbery” means the taking of money or other property which may be the subject of larceny from the person or custody of another, with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or the owner of the money or other property, when in the course of the taking there is the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear. Both the Florida and Alabama robbery offenses require the taking of another’s property by force or threat of force, and the penalty for both offenses is imprisonment exceeding one year. Specifically, the penalty under Florida’s robbery statute as a second degree felony is 15 years. §§ 812,13(2)(e); 775.082(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (1997). Similarly, Guión received a 15 year sentence for his Alabama conviction for second degree robbery. The state sufficiently established that the predicate Alabama conviction was a “qualified” offense under the habitual violent offender statute because it carried its burden of showing that the elements and the penalties are substantially similar to the Florida robbery offense. § 775.084(l)(d), Fla. Stat. (1997).

Guión argues further that because the state indicated that it would identify him through use of an expert on fingerprint analysis and failed to call the expert, it failed to prove that he was the subject in the Alabama conviction. We disagree. Fingerprint analysis is only one way to prove identity. The state provided the court with a copy of the Alabama judgment which bore both Guion’s name and social security number. By doing so, the state met its burden and the burden shifted to Guión to offer evidence of mistaken identity.

AFFIRMED.

W. SHARP, PETERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Sustakoski v. State, 992 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
    …ee with the state, however, that a fingerprint match is not essential for the conviction to be used as a qualifying offense for purposes of a violent career criminal sentence. “Fingerprint analysis is only one way to prove identity.” Guion v. State, 753 So. 2d 628, 630 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). Identity may be established by photographic evidence, see Johnson v. State, 936 So. 2d 672, 674 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006); Wencel v. State, 768 So. 2d 494, 495 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), or by matching names and social security numbers…
  • Brackins v. State, 849 So. 2d 1169 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Guion v. State, 753 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). STEVENSON, TAYLOR and MAY, JJ., concur.…
  • Collins v. State, 83 So. 3d 957 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Whitehead v. State, 21 So. 3d 157 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009); Harris v. State, 959 So. 2d 794 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007); Guzman v. State, 934 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006); Guion v. State, 753 So. 2d 628 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); State v. Williams, 465 So. 2d 1229 (Fla.1985); Lewis v. State, 377 So. 2d 640 (Fla.1979).…

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