STEVEN MITCHELL SOMMERS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2002-11-06
No. 3D01-884
Before GREEN, FLETCHER and SHEVIN, JJ.
829 So. 2d 379 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2002) Caution
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

Sommers appeals a 15-year prison sentence imposed upon revocation of probation, arguing he was entitled to credit for time served on prior counts. The court reverses, holding that when probation is imposed consecutively to incarceration and later revoked, credit for time served on the first offense must be awarded on the new sentence.


Holding

Sommers is entitled to credit for the prison time served on counts I and II against the sentence imposed upon violation of probation on count III. The sentence is reversed and remanded for the trial court to award appropriate credit.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant's right to appeal a sentence may be waived by counsel's concession in the trial court, absent ineffective assistance of counsel.

[2] Ineffective assistance of counsel claims may be addressed on direct appeal when the facts giving rise to the claim are apparent on the face of the record.

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Key Quotes

“if "a trial court imposes a term of probation on one offense consecutive to a sentence of incarceration on another offense, credit for time served on the first offense must be awarded on the sentence imposed after revocation of probation on the second offense."”

Establishes the controlling legal rule requiring credit for time served on prior consecutive sentences when probation is revoked.

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Facts & Procedural History

Sommers was convicted and sentenced to concurrent 12-year prison terms on counts I and II, with a consecutive 10-year probation term on count III. Aft…

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Opinion of the Court
SHEVIN, Judge.

SHEVIN, Judge.

Steven Sommers appeals a sentence imposed upon revocation of probation. We reverse.

Upon conviction, Sommers was sentenced to concurrent twelve-year prison terms on counts I and II, and a consecutive ten-year term of probation on count III. After serving his prison sentence, Sommers began serving probation on count III. On May 25, 1999, on the state’s affidavit of violation of probation, the court found that Sommers violated probation and sentenced him to two years community control, followed by 10 years of probation. Thereafter, on March 28, 2000, the state filed a second affidavit of violation. Based on a plea, the court sentenced Som-mers to two years community control with monitoring, followed by ten years proba tion.1 On February 7, 2001, the state filed a third affidavit of violation. After a hearing, the trial court sentenced Sommers to a guidelines sentence of fifteen years in prison. The court did not give Sommers credit for the time served on counts I and II. Sommers appeals.

The threshold issue in this case is whether defendant preserved the argument presented on appeal, attacking the trial court’s failure to award Sommers credit for the time served on counts I and II, on the sentence upon violation of probation in count III. We agree with the state that this argument was not properly preserved. The Criminal Appeal Reform Act, § 924.051, Fla. Stat. (2002), precludes consideration of issues not raised before the trial court. Here, although the trial judge himself questioned whether Sommers was entitled to the credit, defense counsel expressed a belief that Sommers was not entitled to credit. We must conclude that counsel’s concession amounts to a waiver of Sommers’s right to appeal this issue. However, that conclusion

requires the concomitant conclusion that [Sommers] received ineffective assistance of his counsel in failing to preserve a right which would have otherwise inevitably resulted in a correction of his sentence. Applying the limited, but controlling, exception to the rule that ineffectiveness claims may not be reached on direct appeal which applies when, as here, “the facts giving rise to such a claim are apparent on the face of the record,”

we address this issue in this appeal. Mizell v. State, 716 So. 2d 829, 830 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(quoting Gordon v. State, 469 So. 2d 795, 797 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)). Accord Eure v. State, 764 So. 2d 798 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000).

This case is completely indistinguishable from State v. Witherspoon, 810 So. 2d 871 (Fla.2002). Witherspoon was sentenced to prison on count one, and a consecutive term of probation on count II. Upon release from prison, Witherspoon began serving his probation. Upon violating probation, Witherspoon was sentenced to prison on count II, without any credit for the time served on count I. In Witherspoon, the Court reiterated the holding in Tripp v. State, 622 So. 2d 941, 942 (Fla.1993), that if “a trial court imposes a term of probation on one offense consecutive to a sentence of incarceration on another offense, credit for time served on the first offense must be awarded on the sentence imposed after revocation of probation on the second offense.” Witherspoon, 810 So. 2d at 872 n. 1 (quoting Tripp). Witherspoon further clarified that this rule in Tripp “should be applied notwithstanding the fact that the newly imposed sentence is within the guidelines.” Witherspoon, 810 So. 2d at 873.

In this case, the result should be the same as in Witherspoon and Tripp. Sommers is entitled to credit for the prison time he served on counts I and II, against the sentence imposed upon violation of probation on count III. The sentence is therefore reversed. On remand, the court shall award the appropriate credit.

Reversed and remanded.

. The Plea Agreement provides: “The defendant will be given credit for all time served since March 28, 2000.” This, however, does not amount to a global waiver of credit for all time served, as the state suggests. Additionally, although the Plea Agreement contains an acknowledgment that a violation may subject defendant to the "maximum penalties provided by law,” this is not a tacit agreement to the sentence attacked in this appeal.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Joyner v. State, 988 So. 2d 670 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)
    …dant contends that there is a conflict between the language just quoted in Johnson and four of this court’s earlier decisions: Griffin v. State, 838 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Ryan v. State, 837 So. 2d 1075 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Sommers v. State, 829 So. 2d 379 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002); and Cozza v. State, 756 So. 2d 272 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). We conclude that all of the cases are distinguishable and that there is no internal decisional conflict. In Cozza, this court remanded because the plea colloquy was not in t…
  • Johnson v. State, 974 So. 2d 1152 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)
    …(Fla. 5th DCA 2007); but cf. Fulcher v. State, 875 So. 2d 647, 649 (Fla. [*1153] 3d DCA 2004) (Cope & Wells, JJ., specially concurring), case dismissed, 890 So. 2d 1114 (Fla.2004); Ryan v. State, 837 So. 2d 1075 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Sommers v. State, 829 So. 2d 379, 380 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002). In this case, the defendant’s agreement in writing and in the plea colloquy to having violated probation specifically in return for a four-year state prison sentence with “all credit for time served from 11/14/05,” prec…
  • Rivera v. State, 954 So. 2d 1216 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)
    …The trial court also ruled that a waiver was shown within the meaning of Hines v. State, 906 So. 2d 1137 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005). The defendant replies that there is a .conflict within this district on the waiver issue. Compare id. with Sommers v. State, 829 So. 2d 379, 380 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) and Fulcher, 875 So. 2d at 649 (Cope & Wells, JJ, specially concurring) (referring to affirmative waiver). Since the Fulcher decision is depositive and is applicable in the absence of a waiver, see 875 So. 2d at 648, 649…

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