BILLY KNOWLES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Billy Knowles appealed the denial of his motion for post-conviction relief regarding sentencing guideline scoresheet errors. The court reversed and remanded, holding that the trial court must either prove the scoresheet errors did not affect his sentence or re-sentence him using a corrected scoresheet, following precedent established in Prescott v. State.
The court held that Knowles is entitled to relief. The state's assertion that the trial court intended to impose the same sentence on remand does not constitute adequate proof that the scoresheet errors did not affect the sentence. The trial court must either demonstrate with supporting documentation that the errors did not affect the sentence or re-sentence Knowles using a corrected scoresheet.
[1] A sentencing guidelines scoresheet error requires resentencing or proof that the error did not affect the sentence, even if the original sentence falls within the permitt…
[2] A trial court's adoption of a state's response below does not, by itself, demonstrate that a sentencing scoresheet error did not affect a defendant's sentence.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“the state's attachments did not demonstrate that the scoresheet error did not affect his sentence”
Establishes the standard from Prescott requiring the trial court to affirmatively prove harmlessness of scoresheet errors
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceKnowles was initially charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell and sentenced to probation. He subsequently violated probation by committ…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant, Billy Knowles, appeals an order that denied his motion for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850.
Knowles was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell and sentenced to probation. He subsequently violated his probation by committing a new offense, impersonating a law enforcement officer. Accordingly, he was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of twenty-four months for the violation of probation and his new offense.
In his motion, Knowles claimed that there were errors in his sentencing guidelines scoresheet. In its response to his motion, the state below conceded that Knowles’ scoresheet contains error. While conceding the sentencing errors, the state argued that he would not be entitled to relief because, even if the guidelines were corrected, his sentence would fall within the permitted range.
In Prescott v. State, 698 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), the defendant appealed an order denying his rule 3.800 motion where, as in this case, the state conceded that a guidelines scoresheet error existed but argued the error was harmless because, even if a corrected scoresheet was used, Prescott’s sentence would be within the permitted range.
This court reversed the trial court’s denial of relief in respect to the sentencing errors in Prescott’s scoresheet, reasoning that the state’s attachments did not demonstrate that the scoresheet error did not affect his sentence. See id. Specifically, the Prescott court required the trial court, on remand, to provide proof that the error did not affect his sentence or to re-sen tence him with a corrected scoresheet. See id.
In the case at bar, in its response to this court, the state concedes that under a corrected scoresheet, Knowles’ lowest possible guidelines sentence will be reduced. In an attempt to show that Knowles’ sentence was unaffected by the scoresheet errors, the state maintained that because the trial court adopted the state’s response below, the trial court “has shown a clear intent to sentence appellant to the same sentence if remanded for resentencing.” We disagree that such a showing is made and find that the record attachments provided by the trial court fail to demonstrate that the scoresheet errors did not affect Knowles’ sentence.
We, therefore, reverse and remand. On remand, the trial court is required to provide proof that the sentencing guidelines scoresheet error did not affect Knowles’ sentence or to re-sentence him with a corrected scoresheet.
POLEN, C.J., STONE and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. Anderson, 905 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 2005)…that “[u]nless the record can conclusively demonstrate that the trial court would have sentenced Walker to the same sentence using a corrected scoresheet, he is entitled to be resentenced using a corrected scoresheet.” Id.; accord Knowles v. State, 791 So. 2d 534, 535 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (reversing, where State conceded scoresheet error raised in defendant’s 3.850 motion, for the trial court to “provide proof that the sentencing guidelines scoresheet error did not affect Knowles’ sentence or to re-sentence h…
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Rosales v. State, 834 So. 2d 901 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)…ive Rosales a benefit for entering his plea of no contest, the sentencing judge should have been given the opportunity to rule on the motion after being apprised of the sentencing error and the accurate guidelines sentencing range. Knowles v. State, 791 So. 2d 534 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); Prescott v. State, 698 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). For these reasons, the Order Re: Motion to Correct Illegal Sentence is reversed, with instructions to grant a new [*903] sentencing hearing before the original sentencing j…
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Sampson v. State (Fla. 3d DCA 2022)
Authorities Cited
- Prescott v. State, 698 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)