ALVAREZ ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2000-08-30
No. 3D00-1006
Before COPE, SHEVIN and RAMIREZ, JJ.
766 So. 2d 1147 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2000) Negative Treatment
Cited by 25 cases

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Synopsis

Rodriguez appeals denial of postconviction relief, arguing his habitual offender sentence should be stricken and treated as a guidelines sentence, and that he is entitled to resentencing under pre-1995 guidelines following Heggs v. State. The court affirmed the habitual offender designation as valid under a plea agreement, but remanded to correct sentences on two counts that exceeded statutory maximums.


Holding

Rodriguez is not entitled to strike his habitual offender designation or treat his sentence as a guidelines sentence because the plea agreement for a habitual offender sentence is valid under King v. State and does not exceed statutory maximums. However, the court reversed in part and remanded because the sentences on the two third-degree felony counts exceeded the ten-year legal maximum and must be corrected.


Headnotes

[1] A habitual offender disposition will be upheld where a defendant agrees to such a sentence as part of an otherwise valid plea agreement and the negotiated sentence does n…

[2] A defendant is not entitled to resentencing under pre-1995 guidelines when their sentence is a habitual offender sentence, not a guidelines sentence.

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Key Quotes

“a habitual offender disposition will be upheld 'where a defendant agrees to such a sentence as part of an otherwise valid plea agreement and the negotiated sentence does not exceed the statutory maximum for the particular offense involved.'”

Establishes the controlling legal standard from King v. State allowing habitual offender sentences in plea agreements if they do not exceed statutory maximums.

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Facts & Procedural History

Rodriguez entered a plea bargain in April 1999 agreeing to be sentenced as a habitual offender to six years incarceration followed by five years proba…

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Opinion of the Court
COPE, J.

COPE, J.

Alvarez Alberto Rodriguez appeals an order denying postconviction relief. He contends first, that he is entitled to have his habitual offender designation stricken, and his sentence treated as a guidelines sentence. Second, he contends that because the 1995 sentencing guidelines were held unconstitutional in Heggs v. State, 759 So. 2d 620 (Fla.2000), he is entitled to re-sentencing under the pre-1995 guidelines. We conclude that defendant-appellant Rodriguez is not entitled to this relief, although we must remand for technical correction of his sentences on two counts.

I.

In April, 1999 defendant entered into a plea bargain in two circuit court cases.1 He agreed to be sentenced as a habitual offender to six years incarceration, followed by five years probation. The plea bargain covered two second-degree felonies and two third-degree felonies.

In March, 2000 defendant filed a timely motion for postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. He argued that because the 1995 sentencing guidelines had been held unconstitutional in Heggs, he is entitled to be resentenced. He points out that the incarceration portion of his sentence fell within the guidelines, and contends that his score would have been lower if calculated under the pre-1995 guidelines. Based on his offense date, defendant is within the window period for Heggs.

The trial court summarily denied relief, undoubtedly because this was a habitual offender sentence, not a guidelines sentence. Defendant has appealed.

II.

On this appeal, defendant relies on a recent decision of this court, Louis v. State, 758 So. 2d 744 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), to argue that his sentence must be treated, as a matter of law, as a guidelines sentence, not a habitual offender sentence. In Louis, the defendant had been sentenced as a habitual offender to community control, which he violated. Upon revocation, he was sentenced as a habitual offender but the term of incarceration fell within the sentencing guidelines. See id. at 745.

On direct appeal from the revocation proceeding, this court held that the habitual offender designation had to be eliminated and the sentence would be treated as one within the guidelines. See id. The court interpreted King v. State, 681 So. 2d 1136 (Fla.1996), to require this result. The Second District has followed a similar analysis in Yashus v. State, 745 So. 2d 504 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999).3

In the present case defendant is not entitled to have his habitual offender designation stricken. The Louis and Yashus decisions are both interpretations of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in King. The King decision is very clear that a habitual offender disposition will be upheld “where a defendant agrees to such a sentence as part of an otherwise valid plea agreement and the negotiated sentence does not exceed the statutory maximum for the particular offense involved.” King, 681 So. 2d at 1140.

Although the defendant has not raised the issue, we notice that defendant’s sentences exceed the legal maximum on two counts, the third-degree felony counts. The plea bargain in this case was for six years of incarceration, to be followed by five years probation. The legal maximum for the habitualized third-degree felonies is ten years. See § 775.087(4)(a)3, Fla. Stat. (Supp.1996). Thus defendant is entitled to have his sentences on the third-degree felonies shortened so that the combination of incarceration plus probation does not exceed ten years.4 Upon shortening the sen tences on the third-degree felonies to ten years, the negotiated sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum on any count. Thus the habitual offender disposition is entirely permissible under King. Since defendant’s sentences are not guidelines sentences, he is entitled to no relief under Heggs.

Ill.

We also note that the defendant is operating on an incorrect factual premise in his argument. The defendant contends that the sentence imposed on him is entirely a guidelines matter, that is, a sentence which could be imposed under the authority of the sentencing guidelines without making use of any of the extended legal maximum sentences authorized by the habitual offender statute. Defendant’s sentences do not fit that description.

Defendant entered into a plea bargain for a sentence of six years incarceration (which was within the guidelines), followed by five years probation. These sentences were entirely within the guidelines for the two second-degree felonies, but they exceed the guidelines and five-year legal maximum for a third-degree felony. See § 775.0821(3)(d), Fla. Stat. (1995), and footnote 4 supra. Thus, unlike the situa-r tions in Louis and Yashus, the trial judge did make use of the extended legal máxi-mums in imposing sentence on two of the four counts.

Although it is not necessary to decide the point in this case, we are inclined to think that where multiple cases and/or multiple counts are before the court for simultaneous sentencing, a habitual offender disposition can be imposed on all counts if habitual offender authority is used on any count. To hold otherwise would require count-by-count habitualization, and would make sentencing even more complicated than it already is. But we need not decide that point now.

The habitual offender adjudication in this case was the result of a plea bargain, and will not be disturbed.

TV.

The question of what latitude a sentencing court has with respect to the habitual offender statute should be authoritatively resolved by the Florida Supreme Court. The King decision is open to more than one interpretation regarding the ability of the trial court to impose sentence as a habitual offender, without using the extended legal maximum available under the habitual offender statute.

This is not the case in which to seek such clarification, however. Under the authority of King, the habitual offender disposition in this case was the subject of a plea bargain and will be sustained.

We do, however, reverse the order now under review in part, and remand for reduction of the sentences on the third-degree felonies to the ten-year legal maximum. Defendant need not be present.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for correction of sentences.

. Circuit court case numbers 97-13794 and 97-13796.

. The offenses were committed on April 28, 1997.

. While the King decision is open to interpretation, the writer of this opinion is not convinced that the intent of the King decision was to restrict the sentencing judge’s authority in this fashion. In footnote eight, the King decision allows the trial judge the discretion to place a habitual offender on probation. See 681 So. 2d at 1139 n. 8. If a habitual offender sentence is permissible in the case of a probation disposition, then logically it would be permissible in the case of a guidelines disposition as well. The advantage of the habitual offender sentence in the context of probation or a split sentence is that in the event of violation, the trial court has greater sentencing authority.

.Under the applicable version of the sentencing guidelines, it is permissible for a guide lines sentence to exceed the legal maximum. See id. § 921.0014(2). However, the defendant tells us that the guidelines maximum in this case was 100.6 months or 8.4 years. The total sanction imposed in this case exceeds 8.4 years, and thus exceeds the sentence length allowed by the guidelines.


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Citator

Cited By (13 total)

  • Terry v. State, 808 So. 2d 1249 (Fla. 2002)
    …on our prior decision in King v. State, 681 So. 2d 1136 (Fla.1996), in which we approved such a hybrid sentencing arrangement if the defendant had agreed to it at the time of his original sentencing. 686 So. 2d at 1356. See also Rodriguez v. State, 766 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000) (defendant not entitled to have habitual offender status stricken because the habitual offender adjudication was the result of a plea bargain and would not be disturbed). The law from King, Walker, and Dunham is clear; if a defen…
  • Terry v. State, 778 So. 2d 435 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …here is a split of authority on this issue. In McFadden v. State, 773 So. 2d 1237 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), the Fourth District aligned itself with Ya-shus. The Third District recently adopted the position that we enunciate today. See Rodriguez v. State, 766 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). For that reason, we certify conflict with Yashus and McFadden. AFFIRMED. COBB and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. . At the time of his original sentencing, the trial judge told Terry that because he had been sentenced as an habitual off…
  • Govea v. State, 785 So. 2d 638 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …ovea’s 3.800(a) motion, or by the trial court. In this case, appellant’s Anders counsel first raised the issue in a footnote. Based on that, plus this court’s review of the record, we ordered the state to file an answer brief. In Rodriguez v. State, 766 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000), the court reversed an order denying a Rule 3.800(a) motion, which raised a Heggs issue. The court determined that the Heggs issue was meritless, but sua sponte noted that the sentences for two of the four counts exceeded the stat…

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