MARVIN KNIGHT, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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PER CURIAM.
The appellant challenges an order denying his claim that he was illegally sentenced. We reverse.
Appellant contends that the three-year mandatory minimum sentences imposed upon him were illegal because the record demonstrates that his accomplice possessed the only firearm and the jury did not specifically find that he actually possessed a firearm during the commission of the offenses. Because unlike the defendant in Tucker v. State, 726 So. 2d 768 (Fla.1999), appellant was not the only individual involved in the incidents out of which the criminal charges arose, the fact that the verdict forms state that the jury found him guilty of the offenses at issue “with the use of a firearm” does not necessarily indicate that it found that he actually possessed the firearm. As noted in Robinson v. State, 698 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), under these circumstances, “it is possible the jury found the defendant guilty of [the offense] with a firearm as a principal.”
The order denying the motion is REVERSED, and the case is REMANDED to the trial court with directions to vacate the minimum mandatory sentences.
ERVIN, BARFIELD, and BENTON, JJ., CONCUR.
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Citator
Cited By
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Knight v. State, 70 So. 3d 674 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)…ere illegal. On his second appeal, this Court reversed, noting that in crimes with two participants, the jury must specifically find that a person had actual possession of the firearm to qualify for sentencing under section 775.087. Knight v. State, 800 So. 2d 702, 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) (Knight II) (citing Robinson v. State, 698 So. 2d 908, 908 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), which stated that “because the verdict form does not contain a specific finding that the defendant actually possessed the firearm, the three-yea…
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Ragan v. State, 973 So. 2d 648 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)…nclusively refute the appellant’s claim that the jury verdict did not find that he actually possessed the firearm, as required to impose a three-year minimum mandatory sentence for commission of an offense with use of a firearm. See Knight v. State, 800 So. 2d 702, 702 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). No other claim was adequately pleaded. See Lauramore v. State, 949 So. 2d 307 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007). We, therefore, reverse the trial court’s order and remand for the court to attach records conclusively refuting the appell…
Authorities Cited
- Tucker v. State, 726 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 1999)
- Markie Robinson v. State, 698 So. 2d 908 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)