HECTOR J. RUIZ, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2003-05-14
No. 3D03-270
Before LEVY, RAMIREZ, and WELLS, JJ.
844 So. 2d 800 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Hector Ruiz appeals the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence imposed in 1993 habituating him as a felony offender. The court affirms, holding that the trial court properly relied on prior felony convictions within the 5-year window specified by the 1991 version of Florida's habitual felony offender statute.


Holding

The trial court properly habitualized Ruiz because he committed the felonies within 5 years of release from at least two of the three prior felony convictions. The separate sentencing requirement of section 775.084(5) does not apply because that subsection was enacted after the crimes were committed and courts must apply the statute version in effect at the time of the offense.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant may be sentenced as a habitual felony offender if the current offense is committed within five years of release from a prior prison sentence or other commitme…

[2] The version of Florida Statute section 775.084 in effect at the time the defendant committed the felonies for which habitualization is sought governs the habitualization…

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Key Quotes

“Because the defendant committed the felonies for which habitalization was being imposed in the instant matter within 5 years of release on at least two of these three prior felonies, we find that the trial court properly habitualized him.”

The core holding that the temporal proximity requirement under the 1991 statute was satisfied, making the habitualization proper.

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Facts & Procedural History

Ruiz was arrested in January 1993 on felonies for which he was sentenced as a habitual felony offender on September 23, 1993. The trial court used thr…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant appeals the denial of his most recent motion to correct illegal sentence which challenges his sentence, imposed on September 23, 1993, as a habitual felony offender. Specifically, the defendant argues that under section 775.084 of the Florida Statutes, the trial court used prior felony convictions too remote in time as a predicate for habitualizing him. We disagree and affirm.

For purposes of this appeal, we apply the 1991 version of section 775.084 which was in effect at the time that the defendant committed the felonies charged in case number 93-1993 on which he was habitualized.1 See Smith v. Moore, 782 So. 2d 955, 957-58 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). In sentencing the defendant as a habitual felony offender, the trial court relied, in part, upon felony convictions from case numbers 87-18028, 89-2059A, and 89-6131 on which the defendant was subsequently released from prison on either probation or community control. Because the defendant committed the felonies for which ha-bitualization was being imposed in the instant matter within 5 years of release on at least two of these three prior felonies, we find that the trial court properly habit-ualized him.2 See § 775.084(l)(a)(2), Fla. Stat. (1991)(authorizing habitualization where the new offense is “within 5 years of the defendant’s release, on parole or otherwise, from a prison sentence or other commitment”); Bacon v. State, 620 So. 2d 1084 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)(applying the former version of section 775.084 to prior felonies on which the defendant was released on community control); Allen v. State, 487 So. 2d 410 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)(applying the former version of section 775.084 to prior felonies on which the defendant was released on probation); see also Applegate v. Barnett Bank of Tallahassee, 377 So. 2d 1150, 1152 (Fla.1979)(confirming that the trial court “will generally be affirmed if the evidence or an alternative theory supports it”).

We expressly reject the defendant’s alternative argument directed at the trial court’s alleged violation of section 775.084(5), Fla. Stat. (1993) regarding separate sentencing. Subsection (5) was added to the habitual offender statute in 1993, after the defendant had committed the felonies on which he was habitualized. See ch. 93-406, § 2, Laws of Fla. (1993) (effective June 17, 1993). Consequently, subsection (5) does not apply to the instant matter. See Smith, 782 So. 2d at 957-58 (holding that the court should apply the version of section 775.084 “which was in effect at the time Appellant committed the crime for which he was habitualized”); Barnhill v. State, 788 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)(confirming that, prior to the enactment of subsection (5), habitualization did not have to be based on sequential convictions or offenses). Accordingly, we affirm.

. The defendant was arrested in January 1993 on the charges for which he was habitualized. These crimes were, therefore, committed before the June 17, 1993 effective date of the 1993 version of section 775.084. See ch. 93-406, § 2, Laws of Fla. (1993).

. Defendant was released on probation in case number 87-18028 in January 1988; he was released on community control in case number 89-2059A in May 1991; and he was released on probation in case number 89-6131 in May 1991.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Moss v. State, 9 So. 3d 674 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009)
    …control release was a release under the “otherwise” provision of the statute. Whether measured from the date of the 1990 conviction or the subsequent date of release on control release, the 1990 conviction is a qualifying offense. See Ruiz v. State, 844 So. 2d 800 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); see also Smith v. State, 935 So. 2d 1223, 1224 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006). The defendant also argues that his prior conviction in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court case number 82-23151 cannot be used as a qualifying offense because it was…

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