JAMES TAREEK BETTIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2004-12-03
No. 2D03-5714
FULMER and KELLY, JJ„ Concur.
912 So. 2d 585 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2004)

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Synopsis

James Bettis appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to withdraw his no-contest plea, arguing the imposed sentence violated the plea agreement. The appellate court reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing, finding the record ambiguous as to whether Bettis understood he was accepting a split sentence (two years imprisonment plus three years probation) rather than a maximum of 2.9 years imprisonment as agreed.


Holding

The trial court's order denying the motion to withdraw plea must be reversed and remanded for an evidentiary hearing because the record does not establish that Bettis understood he was agreeing to a split sentence exceeding the agreed-upon 2.9-year maximum.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must hold an evidentiary hearing on a motion to withdraw a plea when the record does not conclusively refute the defendant's assertions that the plea agreem…

[2] A plea agreement is ambiguous if the record does not clearly establish the defendant's understanding of the potential consequences of a split sentence.

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Key Quotes

“the trial court imposed a split sentence that was substantially longer than the agreed upon maximum sentence of imprisonment, and the record does not establish that Mr. Bettis understood that he was agreeing to such a split sentence”

Establishes the core issue: the discrepancy between the agreed sentence cap and the split sentence imposed, and lack of clear agreement on this arrangement.

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Facts & Procedural History

On March 27, 2000, Bettis struck a child with his car, causing serious injuries, and fled the scene. He was charged with culpable negligence and leavi…

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Opinion of the Court
ALTENBERND, Chief Judge.

ALTENBERND, Chief Judge.

James Bettis appeals his judgments and sentences. He challenges the order denying his motion to withdraw plea pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.170(Z), which was entered without an evidentiary hearing. Because the trial court imposed a split sentence that was substantially longer than the agreed upon maximum sentence of imprisonment, and the record does not establish that Mr. Bettis understood that he was agreeing to such a split sentence, we conclude that the trial court’s order must be reversed and the matter remanded for an evidentiary hearing on the motion.

Mr. Bettis struck a child with his car on March 27, 2000. The child sustained serious injuries, and Mr. Bettis fled the scene of the accident. As a result, the State charged him with culpable negligence and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury. Because of the injuries, the minimum permissible sentence without a downward departure was 32.1 months’ imprisonment. Mr. Bettis negotiated a plea to a downward departure sentence.

The trial court accepted Mr. Bettis’s plea of no contest whereby he was promised he would be “sentenced to nothing more severe than 2.9 years in the state prison.” Thereafter, the trial court found that Mr. Bettis qualified as a youthful offender and ultimately sentenced him to two concurrent sentences of two years’ state prison followed by three years’ probation.

Thus, the full length of the split sentence totaled five years.

Mr. Bettis filed a motion to withdraw plea after sentencing pursuant to rule 3.170(i), arguing that the trial court’s sentence was in violation of the terms of the plea agreement as he understood it, or in the alternative, that the plea was involuntary. The trial court denied the motion to withdraw plea without holding an evidentiary hearing, finding that it was obvious from the transcript that the sentence imposed was a contemplated alternative to the 2.9-year cap of imprisonment under the terms negotiated.

From our review of the record, the discussions during the plea hearing and during the sentencing hearing regarding possible youthful offender status reflect that the terms of the plea agreement were ambiguous. It is not clear whether Mr. Bet-tis understood that he could receive a split sentence of imprisonment and probation that together would increase his risk for a more severe term of imprisonment. The sentence imposed is not a true split sentence but a probationary split sentence. If Mr. Bettis were to violate the terms of his probation, the sentence on violation would not appear to be limited to 2.9 year’s imprisonment with credit for time served.

Thus, the record does not conclusively refute Mr. Bettis’s assertions that the agreement did not contemplate any sentence that exceeded a total term of imprisonment and supervision in excess of 2.9 years.1

Because the record fails to show that Mr. Bettis' is not entitled to relief, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing. See Iaconetti v. State, 869 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (citing Daniel v. State, 865 So. 2d 661 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Snodgrass v. State, 837 So. 2d 507, 508 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)).

Reversed and remanded.

FULMER and KELLY, JJ„ Concur. . Although not preserved below or argued on appeal, we note that the charge of culpable negligence in this case is a first-degree misdemeanor and the imposed sentence as to that charge is facially illegal,


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