KENNETH LYONS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2002-08-07
No. 4D00-2431
STEVENSON and MAY, JJ., concur.
823 So. 2d 250 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2002) Caution
Cited by 21 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

Kenneth Lyons appeals his cocaine possession conviction and sentence. The appellate court affirms the conviction but reverses the sentence, finding the trial court improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defendant to disprove a prior conviction used in calculating sentencing guidelines.


Holding

The appellate court held that the state bears the burden of producing competent evidence of a disputed prior conviction used in sentencing guidelines calculations, even when the defendant does not challenge it at the original sentencing hearing. The improper burden shift requires reversal and remand for resentencing.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant challenging the accuracy of a prior conviction used to calculate a sentencing scoresheet bears the burden of proof when the challenge is raised for the first…

[2] When a defendant disputes a prior conviction at sentencing, the burden shifts to the state to prove the prior conviction.

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

Key Quotes

“at sentencing, when the defendant challenges prior convictions and the accuracy of the scoresheet, the state has the burden of producing competent evidence of the disputed conviction”

Establishes the proper allocation of burden of proof for contesting prior convictions in sentencing guidelines calculations

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Lyons was convicted of cocaine possession. At sentencing, his scoresheet included fourteen points for a prior aggravated battery conviction. Lyons did…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SHAHOOD, J.

SHAHOOD, J.

Appellant, Kenneth Lyons, appeals his conviction and sentence on the charge of possession of cocaine. We affirm his conviction on all issues raised; however, we reverse his sentence and remand to the trial court for resentencing pursuant to this opinion.

At sentencing, appellant’s scoresheet reflected fourteen points for a prior aggravated battery conviction. Appellant disputes the addition of the fourteen points to his sentencing guidelines score as the result of a prior conviction which he contests was not his. Appellant did not dispute the prior conviction at sentencing and raised it for the first time in a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b) motion to correct sentencing error, which was denied. At the hearing on appellant’s motion, the state argued that if the appellant contests the prior conviction at sentencing, then the state has the burden of proving the prior conviction. Otherwise, according to the state, if appellant raises the issue for the first time on a 3.800(b) motion, according to the state, the appellant has the burden of proof.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court denied the motion, finding that ap pellant had the burden of coming forward with proof that the conviction was not his and failed to do so. Appellant argues that the court erroneously required him to prove that the conviction did not exist rather than requiring the state to prove that it did. We agree.

Appellant’s scoresheet total, including the fourteen points for the prior charge, was 52.2. This score computed to a lowest possible prison sentence of 18.15 months and a maximum of three years. The trial court sentenced appellant to three years in prison. Without the additional fourteen points, appellant maintains that the lowest permissible sentence would be any non-state sanction as opposed to 18.15 months in prison.

Rule 3.800(b) allows defendants to file a motion to correct “any sentencing error, including an illegal sentence.” The court may either dispose of the motion without a hearing, or hold an evidentiary hearing. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.800(b)(1)(B). In this case, the matter could have been resolved had the state ordered the appropriate documentation and presented it to the court at the hearing on appellant’s 3.800(b) motion. Although the state argued below that the initial burden of proof shifts to the appellant if there is no objection at sentencing, there was no case law produced to support that position. See generally DeGeso v. State, 771 So. 2d 1264 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (at sentencing, when the defendant challenges prior convictions and the accuracy of the scoresheet, the state has the burden of producing competent evidence of the disputed conviction). It cannot be said with certainty that with a new minimum guidelines sentence of any non-state sanction, the trial court would still impose three years in prison.

We, therefore, reverse and remand for the state to provide competent evidence of this prior conviction and for the court to resentence appellant accordingly. See Lawrence v. State, 590 So. 2d 1068 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (‘Where a scoresheet error changes the recommended range, the sentence imposed, although within the permitted range, should be vacated and the cause remanded for resentencing upon a correct scoresheet to assure that a defendant was not sentenced and is not being confined because of a mistaken judicial impression based on an inaccurate guidelines score-sheet.”).

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED FOR RE-SENTENCING.

STEVENSON and MAY, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Jones v. State, 901 So. 2d 255 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)
    …ry hearing is required for consideration of a Rule 3.800(b)(2) motion. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.800(b)(1)(B), (b)(2)(B). Turning to the first motion to correct sentencing error, based on the vacated manslaughter conviction, Jones relies on Lyons v. State, 823 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), to support his argument that the inclusion of the fourteen points on his sentencing scoresheets. was in error. In Lyons, this Court held that on review of a Rule 3.800(b)(2) motion, the State has the burden to prove that the def…
  • Moncus v. State, 69 So. 3d 341 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)
    …r convictions when Moncus raised the issue of lack of identity. He asserts that instead, the trial court erred by shifting the burden of proof from the State to him to disprove the validity of the prior convictions. Moncus relies on Lyons v. State, 823 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), in which the defendant challenged the addition of fourteen points to his scoresheet for a prior conviction he claimed was not his. The defendant raised the challenge for the first time in a motion to correct sentencing error. Th…
  • Dresch v. State, 150 So. 3d 1199 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)
    …et. Defendant challenged the inclusion of these crimes, which added 0.4 to his score, in his rule 3.800(b)(1) motion. Once contested, the State was required to provide competent evidence that Defendant had committed these crimes. See Lyons v. State, 823 So. 2d 250, 250-51 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (holding the state had the burden of providing competent evidence that the defendant had committed a past conviction, when the defendant challenged the inclusion of the past conviction in a rule 3.800(b) motion). On reman…

Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw