JIMMIE LEE NELSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Jimmie Lee Nelson appeals his conviction and sentence for multiple crimes including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, cocaine possession, resisting arrest, and fleeing police. The appellate court affirms the sentence, holding that consecutive sentencing of an enhanced offense and a guidelines sentence does not violate the rule against consecutive enhancement sentences when no mandatory minimums are imposed.
The court affirms the sentence, holding that while aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer is an enhancement statute, consecutive sentencing of an enhanced sentence and a guidelines first-degree felony sentence does not violate the rule against consecutive enhancement sentences established in Jackson v. State because no mandatory minimum sentence was imposed for the aggravated battery charge.
[1] Consecutive enhanced sentences arising from a single criminal episode may not be imposed.
[2] Aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer is an enhancement of the crime of aggravated battery.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, section 784.07(2)(d), is an enhancement of the crime of aggravated battery”
Establishes the legal characterization of the aggravated battery on LEO charge as an enhancement statute
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceNelson was convicted of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon or causing great bodily harm, possession of cocaine, resi…
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THOMPSON, C.J.
Jimmie Lee Nelson timely appeals his judgment and sentence for the crimes of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon or causing great bodily harm \ possession of cocaine 2, resisting an officer with violence3, resisting an officer without violence4, and fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer with a siren and lights activated5. We affirm and write only to address one of the two issues raised by Nelson.6'
Nelson was sentenced to a 10-year habitual felony offender (HFO) sentence on the resisting arrest with violence charge, and a concurrent 10-year HFO sentence for the felony of fleeing and eluding. The trial court further sentenced Nelson to a consecutive 30 year sentence for the conviction of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer. Nelson complains that this sentence was erroneous because “enhancement sentences arising out of a single criminal episode may not be imposed consecutively.” Boler v. State, 678 So. 2d 319, 322 (Fla.1996)(citing Jackson v. State, 659 So. 2d 1060 (Fla.1995)). Therefore, Nelson argues, the trial court erred and the aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer sentence must run concurrent with the HFO sentences.
Nelson is correct that aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, section 784.07(2)(d), is an enhancement of the crime of aggravated battery. See Merritt v. State, 712 So. 2d 384 (Fla.1998). This court has acknowledged as much. See King v. State, 763 So. 2d 546, 547 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)(“our supreme court did say [in Merritt that] ‘Section 784.07, Florida Statutes (1995) is an enhancement statute rather than a statute creating and defining any criminal offense.’ This statement by the supreme court should be adhered to by the lower courts”).
Jackson v. State, 659 So. 2d 1060 (Fla.1995), the case Nelson primarily relies upon, holds that two enhanced sentences cannot be imposed consecutively when they arise from a single criminal episode. See Jackson, 659 So. 2d at 1063 (“Jackson’s minimum mandatory sentence for possession of a firearm must run concurrent with the habitual offender minimum mandatory sentences, since both of these minimum mandatory sentences are enhancements”). In the instant case, however, there was no minimum mandatory imposed for the aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.7 Nelson received an enhanced sentence followed by a guidelines first degree felony sentence, albeit for a crime that otherwise would not be a first degree felony but for the fact that the victim was a law enforcement officer^ Nevertheless, since consecutive mandatory minimum sentences were not imposed, we think there is no Jackson error. AFFIRMED.
HARRIS and SAWAYA, JJ., concur. . § 893.13(l)(f), Fla. Stat. . § 843.01, Fla. Stat. . § 843.02, Fla. Stat. . § 316.1935, Fla. Stat. . The other issue raised by appellant is controlled by a recent decision of this court. See Casselman v. State, 761 So. 2d 482, 484-85 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)(noting that "in a case where there is only one assault or one battery and the same underlying acts are involved in the resisting charge, double jeopardy may bar duplicate convictions,” we held that where there are two separate episodes supporting the two charges there is no double jeopardy violation).
. Nelson complains that a mandatory minimum sentence was imposed for the aggravated battery on a LEO. The record reflects that this is not true. Moreover, the legislature added the mandatory minimum sentence for an aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer in 1999 and made it effective July 1, 1999, several weeks after Nelson committed his crimes. See Ch. 99 188, § 4, at 1050-51, and § 14, at 1081, Laws of Florida.
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Isiah Thomas v. State, 831 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)…by his motion: the legality of his consecutive sentencing for two counts in L.T. case no. 92-010452, in one of which he was sentenced as a habitual felony offender.1 Appellant now concedes that this sentencing was not improper. See Nelson v. State, 820 So. 2d 309, 310 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). Accordingly, we affirm as to this ground. We affirm as to the other grounds of appellant’s motion without discussion. In his initial brief, appellant argues that he should not have received a habitual sentence for count II…
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Brown v. State (Fla. 2d DCA 2021)…a)(1)(k), Fla. Stat. (2003); Clark v. State, 783 So. 2d 967 (Fla. 2001); Bizzell v. State, 912 So. 2d 386 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Wingfield v. State, 816 So. 2d 675 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Brown v. State, 97 So. 3d 960 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012); Nelson v. State, 820 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). VILLANTI, LUCAS, and STARGEL, JJ., Concur. Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.…
Authorities Cited
- Afghari Boler v. State, 678 So. 2d 319 (Fla. 1996)
- Merritt v. State, 712 So. 2d 384 (Fla. 1998)
- Jackson v. State, 659 So. 2d 1060 (Fla. 1995)
- Kirby Lee Casselman v. State, 761 So. 2d 482 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)
- King v. State, 763 So. 2d 546 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)