MICHAEL KIJEWSKI, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2000-12-20
No. 4D99-1570
FARMER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
773 So. 2d 124 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2000) Positive Treatment
Cited by 33 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

Michael Kijewski was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon and sentenced under both the Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act (PRRA) and the Habitual Felony Offender Statute. The court remanded for resentencing under the PRRA only, and rejected Kijewski's argument that Apprendi v. New Jersey requires jury proof of his prior release status.


Holding

The court held that Apprendi does not apply to the PRRA because the PRRA does not increase the maximum statutory penalty but merely limits the sentencing court's discretion within the existing statutory range. Therefore, proof of prior release to a jury is not required, and Kijewski is not entitled to a new trial.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant cannot be sentenced under both the Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act and the Habitual Felony Offender Statute for the same offense.

[2] Facts that increase a penalty beyond the statutory maximum, other than prior convictions, must be pled and proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Key Quotes

“Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be pled in the information and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The Apprendi rule establishing when jury proof is constitutionally required for sentence-enhancement facts.

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Facts & Procedural History

Kijewski was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon. The trial court imposed sentences under both the PRRA and the Habitual Felony Offender Statute…

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Opinion of the Court
KLEIN, J.

KLEIN, J.

Following appellant’s conviction of robbery with a deadly weapon, the trial court imposed sentences under both the Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act and the Habitual Felony Offender Statute. We remand for appellant to be sentenced only under the PRRA. Grant v. State, 770 So. 2d 655 (Fla.2000). We have considered appellant’s other arguments and find them to be without merit, but address one of them, which is based on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).

In Apprendi the Supreme Court held that:

Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be pled in the information and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Id., 120 S.Ct. at 2362-63. The Prisoner Releasee Reoffender Act (PRRA) affects the sentence for a crime, if the crime was committed by a person who had been released from a state correctional facility within three years prior to that crime. § 775.082(9)(a)l. Appellant argues that Apprendi, which was decided after this case was tried, requires that his release be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and that he is therefore entitled to a new trial.

The statutory maximum sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon is a term not exceeding life imprisonment. § 812.13(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (1999). The PRRA requires that the maximum sentence, a life sentence, be imposed for a felony punishable up to life, and that one hundred percent of the sentence must be served. §§ 775.082(9)(a)3 and 775.082(9)(b). If appellant had not been sentenced under the PRRA, the trial court would not have been required to sentence him to the maximum of life imprisonment, and he would have been eligible for gain time and conditional relief. § 775.084(4)(j)-(k), Fla. Stat. (1999).

Prior to Apprendi, the Supreme Court addressed a statute which imposed a mandatory minimum sentence for an offense committed while the defendant possessed a visible firearm and held that proof of the possession of the firearm was not required because the possession did not alter the maximum penalty or create a separate offense calling for a separate penalty. McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986). In Apprendi, the Court made it clear that it was not overruling McMillan, explaining:

The principal dissent accuses us of today “overruling McMillan.” We do not overrule McMillan. We limit its holding to cases that do not involve the imposition of a sentence more severe than the statutory maximum for the offense established by the jury’s verdict— a limitation identified in the McMillan opinion itself, (citations omitted).

Apprendi 120 S.Ct. at 2361 n. 13. The Apprendi Court further explained that the statute involved in McMillan:

neither alters the maximum penalty for the crime committed nor creates a separate offense calling for a separate penalty; it operates solely to limit the sentencing court’s discretion in selecting a penalty within the range already available to it without the special finding of visible possession of a firearm.

Apprendi, 120 S.Ct. at 2361.

Like the statute in McMillan, the PRRA did not increase the maximum statutory penalty in this case, but rather limited the sentencing court’s discretion in selecting a penalty within the statutory range. Apprendi, accordingly, does not require proof of appellant’s release in order to subject appellant to a sentence under the PRRA. We therefore affirm the conviction but remand for sentencing solely under the PRRA. FARMER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (17 total)

  • McCLOUD v. State, 803 So. 2d 821 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …rts that have considered Apprendi thus far understand the term “statutory maximum” under Florida’s sentencing scheme to be the maximum penalties set forth in section 775.082. McGregor v. State, 789 So. 2d 976 (Fla.2001), approving Kijewski v. State, 773 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), review denied, 790 So. 2d 1105 (Fla.2001). See Gilson v. State, 795 So. 2d 105 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)(penetration “is merely a ‘sentencing factor’ that the judge considered in his broad discretion to sentence, ‘within the range pre…
  • Warnell Robinson v. State, 793 So. 2d 891 (Fla. 2001)
    …y within the statutory range is simply limited. Accordingly, proof to the jury of a defendant’s release which subjects a defendant to a sentence under the Act is not required. We agree with the reasoning of the Fourth District in Kijewski v. State, 773 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), review denied, No. SC01-181, 790 So. 2d 1105 (Fla. Apr.30, 2001). We hold that Appren-di does not require that the petitioner’s release be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. We also determine that the petitioner’s relat…
  • Stabile v. State, 790 So. 2d 1235 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)
    …ely limits the court’s discretion in sentencing. It does not increase the penalty beyond the statutory maximum. See Dennis v. State, 784 So. 2d 551 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (Apprendi does not apply to habitual felony offender statute); Kijewski v. State, 773 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000), rev. denied, No. SC01-187, 790 So. 2d 1105 (Fla. April 30, 2001) (Ap-prendi does not apply to the Prison Re-leasee Reoffender Act, as that Act did not increase maximum statutory penalty in defendant’s case). Here the Prison Rele…

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