OTIS BLAXTON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2004-03-12
No. 2D03-583
FULMER and CASANUEVA, JJ., Concur.
868 So. 2d 620 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2004) Caution
Cited by 18 cases

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Synopsis

Otis Blaxton appeals his probation violation sentences, which included both continued probation and 364 days' imprisonment. The court reversed because Florida law limits a youthful offender who successfully completed boot camp to a maximum of 364 days' incarceration upon probation violation, and the trial court improperly imposed additional probationary terms beyond that period.


Holding

A trial court may not impose probationary terms beyond the 364-day incarceration period as a condition of probation for a youthful offender who completed boot camp and violated probation. The court must strike the extended probationary terms and can only impose sentences that constitute valid conditions of probation under the statutory framework.


Headnotes

[1] A court may not impose a period of incarceration exceeding 364 days as a condition of probation for a youthful offender who has successfully completed a boot camp program…

[2] Upon a youthful offender's violation of probation after completing a boot camp program, a court may impose any sentence it might have originally imposed as a condition of…

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Key Quotes

“Upon the offender's completion of the basic training program, the department shall submit a report to the court that describes the offender's performance. If the offender's performance has been satisfactory, the court shall issue an order modifying the sentence imposed and placing the offender on probation... If the offender violates the conditions of probation, the court may revoke probation and impose any sentence that it might have originally imposed as a condition of probation.”

Establishes the statutory framework limiting sentencing options upon probation violation for boot camp participants

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Facts & Procedural History

Blaxton was initially sentenced as a youthful offender to concurrent terms of 44.25 months' incarceration with a recommendation for boot camp. After s…

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Opinion of the Court
ALTENBERND, Chief Judge.

ALTENBERND, Chief Judge.

Otis Blaxton appeals sentences he received after violating his probation in circuit court case numbers 98-5646 and 99-22563. In both cases, Mr. Blaxton was initially sentenced as a youthful offender to concurrent terms of 44.25 months’ incarceration with a recommendation for the “basic training” or “boot camp” program. When Mr. Blaxton successfully completed boot camp, his sentences were modified to concurrent terms of 44 months’ probation. When Mr. Blaxton violated his probation, the circuit court sentenced him to 44 months of continued probation, with a special condition that Mr. Blaxton serve 364 days’ imprisonment. Because this sentence is not permitted under sections 958.045(5)(c) and 958.04(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1997), we reverse.

Section 958.045 outlines the parameters for the youthful offender boot camp program. Subsection (5)(e) provides in part:

Upon the offender’s completion of the basic training program, the department shall submit a report to the court that describes the offender’s performance. If the offender’s performance has been satisfactory, the court shall issue an order modifying the sentence imposed and placing the offender on probation. The term of probation may include placement in a community residential program. If the offender violates the conditions of probation, the court may revoke probation and impose any sentence that it might have originally imposed as a condition of probation.

Section 958.04(2)(b), Florida Statutes (1997), provides: The court may impose a period of incarceration as a condition of probation or community control, which period of incarceration shall be served in either a county facility, a department probation and restitution center, or a community residential facility which is owned and operated by any public or private entity providing such services.... Placement in such a facility or center shall not exceed 364 days.

Based upon these two provisions, this court concluded in Bloodworth v. State, 769 So. 2d 1117 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), that a youthful offender who had successfully completed boot camp, had his sentence modified to a term of probation, and then violated probation could not receive a sentence of more than 364 days’ incarceration because that is the maximum sentence the court “might have originally imposed as a condition of probation.” See also Lawson v. State, 845 So. 2d 986 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003); Thomas v. State, 825 So. 2d 1032 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002); Burkett v. State, 816 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002).

Similarly in this case, when re-sentencing Mr. Blaxton upon the violation of his probation, the circuit court could not reimpose probationary terms beyond the 364-day period of incarceration. As interpreted in Bloodworth, pursuant to section 958.045(5)(e), the court may “impose any sentence that it might have originally imposed as a condition of probation.” 769 So. 2d at 1118. A court cannot impose probation as a condition of probation. Therefore the extended period of probation in Mr. Blaxton’s sentences must be stricken.

The language of section 958.045(5)(c) may warrant further review by the legislature. We doubt that the legislature actually intended the result this language has created. We are inclined to believe that the legislature intended to permit the court to impose any sentence “that it might have originally imposed.” Indeed, a judge may be hesitant to recommend boot camp in an effort to rehabilitate a youth if the judge realizes that the youth’s sentence upon a future violation of probation will be limited to such a short term of incarceration. Nevertheless, the legislature has not amended the statutes since our opinion in Bloodworth, 769 So. 2d 1117, and we are constrained by the plain language of the statutes. Accordingly, we reverse the sentences imposed in case numbers 98-5646 and 99-22563 and remand with directions to strike the continued probationary terms.

Reversed and remanded.

FULMER and CASANUEVA, JJ., Concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Raymone LEE v. State, 884 So. 2d 460 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)
    …e been consistently construed as limiting to 364 days the period of incarceration which may be imposed for violation of probation following successful completion of boot camp. See Mims v. State, 871 So. 2d 1003 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); Blaxton v. State, 868 So. 2d 620 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Williams v. State, 841 So. 2d 685 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). However, as the state points out, the defendants in those cases were placed [*462] in boot camp programs operated by the Department of Corrections. Here, the defendant was n…
  • Fettler v. State, 885 So. 2d 411 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)
    …ed to more than 364 days of incarceration upon a violation of the subsequent period of probation. See, e.g., Mims v. State, 871 So. 2d 1003, 1004 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004) (citing §§ 958.04(2)(b), 958.045(5)(c), Florida Statutes (2003)); Blaxton v. State, 868 So. 2d 620, 621 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Mason v. State, 864 So. 2d 1225, 1227 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); Thomas v. State, 825 So. 2d 1032, 1034 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002); Bloodworth v. State, 769 So. 2d 1117, 1118 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). It is similarly well-established that an…
  • Holmes v. State, 899 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005)
    …cessful completion of boot camp, a defendant may only receive a penalty of up to 364 days in a specified facility. Bloodworth v. State, 769 So. 2d 1117 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000); see also, Lee v. State, 884 So. 2d 460 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Blaxton v. State, 868 So. 2d 620 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Thomas v. State, 825 So. 2d 1032 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002); Burkett v. State, 816 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). Section 958.04, Florida Statutes (2002), governs the judicial disposition of youthful offender cases. This section allow…
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