TIMOTHY MARTIN, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2001-08-29
No. 3D00-3433
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., JORGENSON and COPE, JJ.
795 So. 2d 143 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2001) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases

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Synopsis

The court affirmed in part and reversed in part an order denying a motion to correct an illegal sentence, striking the habitual offender adjudication for a life felony conviction of kidnapping with a weapon and remanding for resentencing within guidelines.


Holding

The court held that habitual offender adjudication was not authorized for a life felony under the statute then in effect, requiring it to be struck for the kidnapping conviction. However, the court disagreed with the defendant's challenges to habitualization for burglary and robbery counts.


Headnotes

[1] A habitual offender adjudication is impermissible for a life felony under the version of the habitual offender statute then in effect.

[2] A motion to correct an illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) may be used to challenge an improper habitual offender adjudication.

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Facts & Procedural History

Timothy Martin appealed an order denying his motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing that habitual offender status was improperly applied to hi…

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Opinion of the Court
COPE, J.

COPE, J.

Timothy Martin appeals an order denying his motion to correct illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I.

Defendant-appellant Martin entered a plea bargain for a twenty-seven-year habitual offender sentence in this case. The crime date was December 9, 1989.

Count five was the offense of kidnapping with a weapon or firearm. The firearm enhancement was applied, and the judgment reflects that the offense at conviction was a life felony. See §§ 775.087, 787.01, Fla. Stat. (1989).

Defendant correctly contends that under the version of the habitual offender statute then in effect, the statute did not authorize habitualization, for a life felony. Lamont v. State, 610 So. 2d 435 (Fla.1992). This issue may be raised by a motion to correct illegal sentence under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). Carter v. State, 786 So. 2d 1173, 1175 (Fla.2001). Defendant is correct in asserting that the habitual offender adjudication must be eliminated on count five.

We therefore remand the ease to the trial court with directions to strike the habitual offender adjudication from count five and resentence the defendant within the guidelines on count five. Since the defendant’s guidelines maximum is twenty-two years and the defendant has already agreed, in the plea bargain, to a twenty-seven-year habitual offender sentence on counts one and two, defendant need not be present for the resentencing on count five.

II.

Defendant contends that his conviction on count one was for a life felony, which could not be habitualized. We disagree.

Count one was burglary of an occupied structure with a firearm and an assault or battery. Defendant was charged solely under section 810.02, Florida Statutes (1989). Under that statute, the offense is a first degree felony punishable by life imprisonment. Id. § 810.02(2).1

Defendant points out that in the plea colloquy the prosecutor stated that this count was a life felony. The prosecutor was in error. The sole charge in this case was under section 810.02, which is a first degree felony punishable by life imprisonment. Habitualization is permissible for a first degree felony. See § 775.084(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (1989).

Defendant argues that count two was also a life felony on which habitualization would be improper. Again, the defendant is incorrect. Count two was robbery with a firearm. That crime is a first degree felony punishable by life imprisonment. Id. § 812.13(2)(a). A first degree felony is subject to habitualization. Id. § 775.084(4)(a). Again, the prosecutor’s mistaken statement that count two was a life felony is not controlling.

III.

Defendant contends that he does not actually qualify as a habitual offender. We disagree.

First, this claim is time-barred. See Bover v. State, 732 So. 2d 1187 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), quashed in part, Carter v. State, 786 So. 2d at 1180.

Second, assuming that there were no procedural bar, the defendant’s claim is without merit. Defendant acknowledges that he has one prior conviction which would qualify as a predicate offense for habitualization, a 1987 conviction for sale and purchase of cocaine. Defendant argues, however, that his previous convictions were juvenile adjudications which cannot be counted as predicate offenses for habitualization. See Wilson v. State, 696 So. 2d 528, 529 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).

Defendant is in error about the nature of his prior record. In circuit court case number 81-20084, defendant entered a guilty plea and was adjudicated guilty of burglary and grand theft. In circuit court case number 82-3074, defendant also entered a guilty plea and was adjudicated guilty of attempted burglary of a dwelling. The defendant received youthful offender adjudications, and was ultimately incarcerated on both cases. These were not juvenile adjudications. Consequently both cases were properly treated as predicate offenses for habitualization purposes. Thus, it is clear that the defendant qualifies as a habitual offender.2 The defendant argues that he should receive the benefit of subsection 775.084(2), which provides that “[t]he placing of a person on probation without an adjudication of guilt shall be treated as a prior conviction if the subsequent offense for which he is to be sentenced was committed during such probationary period.” This provision does not apply here. As already stated, the trial court entered adjudications of guilt.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for resentencing on count five.

. The result is otherwise if the state chooses to charge the defendant with burglary with an assault or battery under paragraph 810.02(2)(a), Florida Statutes, and charges that in committing the offense, the defendant used a firearm in violation of subsection 775.087(1). If the charge is made in that way, then subsection 775.0.87(1) reclassifies the offense from a first degree felony to a life felony. Grant v. State, 677 So. 2d 45, 46 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); see also Lareau v. State, 573 So. 2d 813 (Fla.1991); Nathan v. State, 689 So. 2d 1150 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997).

. There is a seeming inconsistency in the sentencing order in circuit court case number 82-3074. The judgment on its face indicates that the defendant was adjudicated guilty. The youthful offender sentencing order is a separate form which begins, by stating, “The Defendant, accompanied by his attorney, ..., and having been adjudicated guilty herein, and adjudication having been withheld, Upon comparing this sentencing order with that which was entered in circuit court case number 81-20084, it is clear that this is a standard form and that the intent was for the clerk to cross out the phrase which did not apply. Thus, in the youthful offender order in case number 82-3074, the phrase, “and adjudication having been withheld,” should have been crossed out. That scrivener’s error does not affect the fact that the judgment on its face in case number 82-3074 indicates that the defendant was adjudicated guilty.

Even if that were not so, the defendant still has at least two qualifying convictions, the 1981 case and the 1987 case.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Collins v. State, 800 So. 2d 660 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …rmed kidnapping counts. We remand to the trial court with directions to strike the habitual violent felony offender adjudications from those counts and to resentence Collins within the sentencing guidelines on those counts only. See Martin v. State, 795 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001). We affirm the trial court’s order denying Collins’ claims on the armed robbery with a weapon count and the armed robbery with a firearm count. Armed robbery with a firearm is a first-degree felony punishable by life and is thus…
  • Martin v. State, 884 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)
    …als the summary denial of his motion to correct illegal sentence pursuant to rule 3.800(a) of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure alleging that his sentence was based on an improperly calculated scoresheet. We previously held in Martin v. State, 795 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), that under the version of the habitual offender statute then in effect, Martin could not be sentenced as a habitual offender in count five because the statute did not authorize habitualization for a life felony. We therefore rema…
  • Johnson v. State, 934 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)
    …ased upon the state’s proper confession of error, we reverse the denial of Defendant’s 3.800 motion and remand for sentencing. At the time of the offense the defendant could not be sentenced as a habitual offender for a life felony. Martin v. State, 795 So. 2d 143 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001). As the State confesses, the Defendant should be re-sentenced for the life felony in count three pursuant to the laws in effect at the time of his offense. Green v. State, 810 So. 2d 1101 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). Reversed and remand…

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