ROBERT PEARMAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2000-07-05
No. 4D00-1555
KLEIN, STEVENSON and GROSS, JJ., concur.
764 So. 2d 739 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2000) Caution
Cited by 13 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.


Holding

The court held that the potential consequences under the Jimmy Ryce Act are collateral consequences of a guilty plea, not direct ones.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court is not required to inform a defendant of the collateral consequences of a guilty plea, only the direct consequences.

[2] The determination of whether a consequence of a plea is direct or collateral turns on whether the result represents a definite, immediate, and largely automatic effect on…

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

Facts & Procedural History

Appellant pleaded guilty to sexual offenses in 1995 and was sentenced. Later, he filed a motion to vacate his plea, arguing he would not have pleaded …

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.

We affirm the order denying appellant’s motion for post-conviction relief.

In 1995, appellant entered guilty pleas to charges of sexual activity with a child and sexual battery with force or injury. He was sentenced on August 24, 1995 to eight years in prison followed by eight years of probation. There was no direct appeal.

On March 11, 1999, the trial court issued an order finding appellant to be a sexual predator pursuant to section 775.21(4)(a), Florida Statutes (1999).1 On August 20, 1999, appellant filed the instant pro se motion to vacate judgment and sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The sole ground for relief was that his original plea was not entered knowingly and voluntarily, in that the Legislature enacted section 916.31, Florida Statutes (1999), effective January 1, 1999,2 providing for the involuntary commitment of those convicted of certain sexual crimes. Appellant argued that had he been aware of the new statute at the time of his plea, he would not have entered it and would have insisted on his right to a trial by jury. To support his motion, appellant cited State v. Wiita, 744 So. 2d 1232 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).

The trial court summarily denied appellant’s motion on April 12, 2000, noting that it had reviewed and accepted the state’s response. The state’s response essentially conceded that this case fell under the exception to the two-year time limitation found at Rule 3.850(b)(1), which applies when “the facts on which the claim is predicated were unknown to the movant or the movant’s attorney and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence,” but asserted that the motion should be denied on the merits.

Before accepting a guilty or nolo conten-dré plea, the trial court is required to determine that the plea is voluntarily entered. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.172(a). Ordinarily, the trial court should place the defendant under oath and determine that the defendant understands, among other things, the nature of the charge, any mandatory minimum penalty, and the maximum possible penalty. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.172(c)(1).

However, in determining that a defendant understands the consequences of his plea, the judge is not required to inform a defendant of the collateral consequences of his plea, but only of the direct consequences of it. See, e.g., State v. Fox, 659 So. 2d 1324, 1327 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). The determination of whether a consequence of a plea is direct or collateral “ ‘turns on whether the result represents a definite, immediate and largely automatic effect on the range of the defendant’s punishment.’ ” Zambuto v. State, 413 So. 2d 461, 462 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (quoting Cuthrell v. Director, Patuxent Institution, 475 F. 2d 1364, 1366 (4th Cir.1973) (holding that enhancement of sentence after violation of probation was collateral rather than direct consequence of plea)).

We agree with the state that the effects of the Jimmy Ryce Act on appellant are collateral consequences of the plea. See People v. Moore, 69 Cal.App.4th 626, 81 Cal.Rptr.2d 658 (1998) (holding any commitment defendant might suffer under the sexual violent predator act would not be a direct consequence of his plea). Florida courts have come to this conclusion when considering motions to withdraw pleas based on subsequently enacted laws concerning the designation of sexually violent predators. See generally LaMonica v. State, 732 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999); Oce v. State, 742 So. 2d 464 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), cause dismissed, No. SC99-50, 763 So. 2d 1044 (Fla. May 9, 2000); Collie v. State, 710 So. 2d 1000, 1008 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 722 So. 2d 192 (Fla.1998), and cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1058, 119 S.Ct. 624, 142 L.Ed.2d 563 (1998); Benitez v. State, 667 So. 2d 476 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996).

Wiita is distinguishable on its facts. Wiita bargained for anonymity; he was promised that if he successfully completed his probation, his adjudication would be withheld and his file would be sealed. He was told that the charges would be completely wiped off his record. See 744 So. 2d at 1233-34. This court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it granted Wiita’s sworn motion to vacate, as justice and fairness supported the withdrawal of the plea in that case, where the defendant had entered the plea to avoid publicity, and then had publicity thrust upon him. See id. at 1235.

KLEIN, STEVENSON and GROSS, JJ., concur. . Section 775.21(4)(a), Florida Statutes (1999), applies to offenses committed on or after October 1, 1993, and before October 1, 1995. That subsection provides that an offender who is found to be a sexual predator must register as such in accordance with subsection 775.21(6) and is subject to community and public notification requirements in accordance with subsection 775.21(7).

. The "Jimmy Ryce Act,” now appearing at section 394.910-394.931, Florida Statutes (1999).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (12 total)

  • Watrous v. State, 793 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …a qualifying offense automatically puts a person at risk for commitment, it does not automatically result in that person’s commitment.6 We conclude therefore that commitment under the Act is a collateral consequence of a plea. See Pearman v. State, 764 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). Other state and federal courts have reached the same conclusion with regard to similar statutes allowing for the civil commitment of sexual predators. See, e.g., George v. Black, 732 F. 2d 108 (8th Cir. 1984); Martin v. Reinste…
    1 / 2
  • Roberti v. State, 782 So. 2d 919 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …is claim stating that commitment under the Act is a collateral consequence of a plea about which the defendant need not be warned. See Watrous v. State, 26 Fla. L. Weekly D686, - So. 2d -, 2001 WL 219982 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 7, 2001); Pearman v. State, 764 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). While this is a correct statement of the law, it fails to address Roberti’s actual claim. Roberti alleged not that counsel failed to advise him that his pleas could subject him to commitment under the Act, but rather that counse…
  • Nelson v. State, 780 So. 2d 294 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …f these designations before entering a plea, because they are collateral, rather than direct, consequences resulting from his convictions of certain sexual offenses. See, e.g., Donovan v. State, 773 So. 2d 1264 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Pearman v. State, 764 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000); Oce v. State, 742 So. 2d 464 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), cause dismissed, 763 So. 2d 1044 (Fla.2000); LaMonica v. State, 732 So. 2d 1175 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999); Burkett v. State, 731 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); Collie v. State, 710 So.…

Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (11 total)

View all 11 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw