HAZEL BATTLES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the appellant is not entitled to relief based on the unconstitutionality of chapter 99-188 because the relevant sentencing provisions were not affected by the unconstitutional act. However, the appellant may be entitled to relief under an amendment made by that chapter.
[1] A retroactive reenactment of a statute previously held unconstitutional for violating the single subject rule is invalid.
[2] A defendant may be entitled to relief from a sentence imposed under an unconstitutional statute if the statute's provisions were not otherwise present in existing law.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHazel Battles filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing his habitual violent felony offender sentence was illegal due to the unconstituti…
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[*1192] FULMER, Judge.
Hazel Battles appeals the denial of his motion to correct illegal sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). In his motion, Battles alleged that his habitual violent felony offender minimum mandatory sentence is illegal as a result of our opinion in Taylor v. State, 818 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA), review dismissed, 821 So. 2d 302 (Fla.2002), which held chapter 99-188, Laws of Florida, unconstitutional in violation of the single subject rule. Battles claimed that chapter 99-188 allowed the sentencing court to impose a minimum mandatory sentence. The trial court denied this claim, stating that the legislature cured the single subject violation by retroactively reenacting chapter 99-188.
In Green v. State, 839 So. 2d 748 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003), this court held that the legislature’s retroactive reenactment of chapter 99-188 was invalid. Therefore, Battles would be entitled to relief under Taylor if his sentence was affected by the amendments in chapter 99-188. The minimum mandatory sentencing provisions for habitual violent felony offenders were already present in section 775.084, Florida Statutes, when the legislature adopted chapter 99-188, and they were not affected by the amendments in chapter 99-188. See § 775.084(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (1997); ch. 99-188, § 3, at 1049. Therefore, Battles is not entitled to relief on this basis.
However, chapter 99-188 did amend the habitual violent felony offender statute to include defendants who have committed a felony while serving, or within five years of serving, a court-ordered or lawfully imposed supervision that is the result of a conviction for an enumerated felony. See ch. 99-188, § 3, at 1043. Battles may be entitled to relief if he qualified as a habitual violent felony offender under this amendment. Therefore, we affirm without prejudice to any right Battles may have to file a facially sufficient rule 3.800(a) motion seeking relief on this basis.
Affirmed.
STRINGER and CANADY, JJ„ concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Taylor v. State, 818 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)
- Green v. State, 839 So. 2d 748 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)