VINCENT R. QUEVADO, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Quevado was convicted of manslaughter in 1984 and placed on probation, but when he violated probation in 1984 (apprehended 1999), the trial court imposed a 15-year guidelines sentence in 2001 under the 1984 guidelines. The appellate court reversed because applying the 1984 guidelines to a 1983 crime violates constitutional constraints, and Quevado should have been offered a choice between a non-guidelines sentence or sentencing under the 1999 guidelines.
The trial court's March 2001 sentence under the 1984 guidelines is reversed because the 1984 guidelines cannot be applied to a crime committed in 1983. Quevado must be given the option to elect either a non-guidelines sentence (under which he would be eligible for parole) or sentencing under the 1999 Criminal Punishment Code (the guidelines in effect when he was sentenced for his probation violation).
[1] Sentencing guidelines enacted after the commission of a crime cannot be applied to that crime.
[2] Guidelines declared unconstitutional cannot be used for sentencing, even for offenses committed before their declaration.
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“We must reverse the sentence imposed under the 1984 guidelines because they cannot be applied to a crime committed before their enactment.”
Establishes the core constitutional principle that sentencing guidelines cannot be retroactively applied to crimes predating their enactment
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceQuevado was charged with homicide in July 1983 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April 1984, receiving seven years' probation and a guidelines sco…
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NORTHCUTT, Judge.
Vincent Quevado protests the sentence he received for a,probation violation after he successfully challenged his original sentence in a motion for postcon-viction relief. We agree with Quevado that the sentence imposed in March 2001 is incorrect, and we reverse it.
Quevado was charged with a homicide that took place in July 1983. In April 1984, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was placed on seven years’ probation. A guidelines scoresheet was prepared at that time, and Quevado claims he received a guidelines sentence. (If so, it was a downward departure.)
Quevado violated his probation in December 1984. He was not apprehended until 1999, at which time he admitted the violation. In June 1999, the circuit court sentenced him to a nonguidelines sentence of fifteen years’ imprisonment. Afterward, Quevado filed a motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, alleging his counsel was ineffective for not advising him he could be sentenced under the guidelines.
• At the March 2001 hearing on Quevado’s rule 3.850 motion, defense counsel and the prosecutor discussed the “1984 guidelines,” and focused on whether the court could apply a one cell bump for Quevado’s probation violation. Such a bump would result in a permissive sentencing range with an upward limit of seventeen years’ imprisonment. Concluding the bump was appropriate, the court again imposed fifteen years’ imprisonment, this time as a guidelines sentence. That sentence is the subject of this appeal.
We must reverse the sentence imposed under the 1984 guidelines because they cannot be applied to a crime committed before their enactment. Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 423, 107 S.Ct. 2446, 96 L.Ed.2d 351 (1987). Quevado’s crime was committed in 1983. But the 1983 guidelines cannot be used to sentence him because they were declared unconstitutional. Smith v. State, 537 So. 2d 982 (Fla.1989) (holding the guidelines unconstitutional for offenses committed before July 1, 1984). Quevado should have been given the option (1) to receive a nonguidelines sentence, under which he would be eligible for parole; or (2) to be sentenced under the guidelines in effect in 1999 when he was sentenced for his probation violation. See Kunkel v. State, 765 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000). We understand that the circuit court did not offer this option because it was misled by all involved to believe that the constitutional 1984 guidelines applied.
Quevado’s rule 3.850 motion asked that he be sentenced under the guidelines, but he was under the misapprehension that the 1983 guidelines would be used. Because of the confusion in this case, and in the interests of justice, we remand with instructions to give Quevado the option under Kunkel to elect either a nonguide-lines sentence or one under the 1998 Criminal Punishment Code, the guidelines in effect at the time of his sentencing on the probation violation.
Reversed and remanded.
DAVIS, J., and THREADGILL, EDWARD F., Senior Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Logan v. State, 921 So. 2d 556 (Fla. 2005)…ntenced under the guidelines in effect at the time of the election. Smith [v. State, 537 So. 2d 982, 987 (Fla.1989)]. Because Logan made his election in 2001, he elected to be sentenced pursuant to the Criminal Punishment Code. See Quevado v. State, 838 So. 2d 1253, 1254 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (holding that defendant sentenced in 1999 had right to choose “either a nonguidelines sentence or one under the 1998 Criminal Punishment Code”). Pursuant to the Criminal Punishment Code, the five concurrent life sentences r…
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Logan v. State, 846 So. 2d 657 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)…delines, elects to be sentenced under the guidelines in effect at the time of the election. Smith, 537 So. 2d at 987. Because Logan made his election in 2001, he elected to be sentenced pursuant to the Criminal Punishment Code. See Quevado v. State, 838 So. 2d 1253, 1254 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (holding that defendant sentenced in 1999 had right to choose “either a nonguidelines sentence or one under the 1998 Criminal Punishment Code”). Pursuant to the Criminal Punishment Code, the five concurrent life sentences r…
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Johnson v. State, 889 So. 2d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)…State, 642 So. 2d 129, 131 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994). If Appellant elects to be sentenced under the current guidelines, he will be sentenced pursuant to the Criminal Punishment Code. Logan v. State, 846 So. 2d 657, 658 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Quevado v. State, 838 So. 2d 1253, 1254 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). The trial court properly determined that Appellant had previously raised these claims in prior motions and that he was collaterally estopped from raising them in the motion on appeal. Despite this procedural bar, however,…
Authorities Cited
- Miller v. Florida, 482 U.S. 423 (U.S. 1987)
- Alphonso P. Smith v. State, 537 So. 2d 982 (Fla. 1989)
- Brown v. Fuentes, 765 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)
- Kunkel v. State, 765 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)