MILTON EARLE THOMAS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court reversed sentences of 72 months imposed for two third-degree felonies because they exceeded the statutory maximum of 60 months, and remanded for resentencing within the legal limit.
Sentences exceeding the statutory maximum for third-degree felonies are illegal and must be reversed even when imposed concurrently.
[1] Sentences imposed under the Criminal Punishment Code cannot exceed the statutory maximum for the offense unless the lowest permissible prison sentence calculated on the o…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThomas was sentenced to concurrent 72-month sentences for violations of sections 817.563(1) and 893.13(6)(a), both third-degree felonies with a statut…
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CANADY, Judge.
Milton Earle Thomas appeals two sentences imposed on him following revocation of his probation. Thomas argues and the State concedes that the two sentences are illegal because they exceed the applicable statutory maximum. Thomas earlier raised this sentencing issue by way of a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(1) motion, but his motion was deemed denied due to the trial court’s inaction. See Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.800(b)(1)(B).
The trial court imposed concurrent sentences of seventy-two months for a violation of section 817.563(1), Florida Statutes (2000), and a violation of section 893.13(6)(a), Florida Statutes (2002). Both sentenced offenses are third-degree felonies, for which the statutory maximum sentence is five years. See § 775.082(3)(d), Fla. Stat. (2000 & 2002). Under the Criminal Punishment Code, the maximum sentence that may be imposed for an offense is the statutory maximum for that offense, unless the lowest permissible prison sentence calculated on the offender’s scoresheet exceeds the statutory maximum. See § 921.0024(2), Fla. Stat. (2000 & 2002); Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.704(d)(25). Thomas’s Criminal Punishment Code scoresheets for his offenses show lowest permissible prison sentences at a level lower than the applicable statutory maximum sentences. The sentences of seventy-two months thus exceed the applicable five-year (sixty-month) maximum sentences permissible for these offenses under the Criminal Punishment Code. We reverse the sentences and remand for resentencing within the statutory maximum.
Sentences reversed; remanded for re-sentencing.
FULMER, C.J., and STRINGER, J., Concur.
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McCAIN v. State, 944 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)…la. Stat. (2002). Pursuant to section 921.0024(2), Florida Statutes (2002), however, depending on the offender’s score-sheet, the “lowest permissible sentence” under the Criminal Punishment Code may exceed the statutory maximum. See Thomas v. State, 909 So. 2d 601, 601 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); State v. Ayers, 901 So. 2d 942, 945-46 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). Here, the record before us — which does not contain the sentencing scoresheet or the transcript of the sentencing hearing — is insufficient to establish whether the…