MICHAEL WILLIAMS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2006-07-28
No. 5D05-3450
PALMER and EVANDER, JJ., concur.
934 So. 2d 632 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2006) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Michael Williams appealed the partial summary denial of his Rule 3.850 post-conviction motion, challenging a sentence modification in a probation violation case. The court held that when a defendant pleads guilty based on a misunderstanding that the sentence is legal, but the sentence is actually illegal, the defendant must be given the opportunity to withdraw the plea rather than simply have the sentence corrected.


Holding

The defendant should be granted the opportunity to withdraw his plea when he pleaded guilty based on the understanding that the sentence was legal but later discovers the sentence was illegal. The trial court erred by merely modifying the sentence without allowing the defendant to choose between accepting the corrected sentence or withdrawing his plea.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant should be allowed to withdraw a guilty plea when the plea was based upon a misunderstanding or misapprehension of facts, including the legality of the sentenc…

[2] When a defendant pleads guilty with the understanding that the sentence is legal, but the sentence is later found to be illegal, the defendant must be given the opportuni…

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Key Quotes

“It is a well-established principle of law that a defendant should be allowed to withdraw a plea of guilty where the plea was based upon a misunderstanding or misapprehension of facts considered by the defendant in making the plea.”

Establishes the foundational principle that guilty pleas can be withdrawn based on factual misunderstandings

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Facts & Procedural History

Williams originally received a 15-year sentence in case number 94-921, with 8 years incarcerated and 7 years suspended with probation. After serving h…

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Opinion of the Court
THOMPSON, J.

THOMPSON, J.

Michael Williams appeals the partial summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief. He contends that the trial court erred by modifying his sentence without allowing him to withdraw his plea and by summarily denying two claims without attaching parts of the record that refute his claims. We agree he should have been granted the opportunity to withdraw his plea and reverse.

Williams received a 15-year sentence after he pled to and was convicted of three charges in case number 94-921. After Williams served eight years, the trial court suspended the remaining seven years and placed him on three years’ probation. Williams did not appeal the sentence and was subsequently released from prison. After his release, Williams violated his probation, resulting in a new three-year probation term. Again, he did not appeal.

Williams subsequently committed new offenses in case number 03-216.1 He pled guilty to the new charges and to violating his probation in case number 94-921. The court sentenced him in case number OB-216 to two terms of 20 years’ prison and 15 years’ prison, all concurrent. In case number 94-921, the court revoked his probation and sentenced him to 20 years’ prison, concurrent with the sentences imposed in case number 03-216. Williams’s appeal of the judgment and sentence in case number 03-216 remains pending.

In this rule 3.850 motion, Williams asserted three claims for relief in case num ber 94-921. We address only his claim that his probation violation sentence exceeded the maximum permissible sentence, for which the trial court granted the relief of a modified sentence. We conclude that the court should have granted Williams the opportunity to withdraw his plea.

In case number 94-921, Williams originally received a true split sentence of 15 years, which was divided into eight years’ incarceration with the remainder suspended in favor of probation. When he violated probation, he agreed to a sentence of 20 years’ incarceration, which was an illegal sentence. See, e.g., Moore v. Stephens, 804 So. 2d 575, 577 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). Williams’s 8.850 motion alleged that trial counsel was ineffective for not moving to withdraw the plea and asked the court to allow him to withdraw. The trial court merely corrected the sentence and did not give Williams the opportunity to withdraw. This was error:

It is a well-established principle of law that a defendant should be allowed to withdraw a plea of guilty where the plea was based upon a misunderstanding or misapprehension of facts considered by the defendant in making the plea. Hence when a defendant pleads guilty with the understanding that the sentence he or she receives in exchange is legal, when in fact the sentence is not legal, the defendant should be given the opportunity to withdraw the plea when later challenging the legality of the sentence.

Forbert v. State, 437 So. 2d 1079, 1081 (Fla.1983) (citations omitted); see also Williams v. State, 618 So. 2d 773, 774 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993) (holding that, where mutual mistake resulted in illegal sentence, defendant should have opportunity to agree to illegality or withdraw plea).

Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the trial court to grant Williams the opportunity to accept the corrected sentence imposed in 94-921 or withdraw his plea in case number 94-921.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

PALMER and EVANDER, JJ., concur. . Burglary of a dwelling while armed, armed kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. These new offenses are the subject of 5D05-2363.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Williams v. State, 935 So. 2d 1288 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)
    …relief by re- [*1289] sentencing Williams to a legal sentence, but failed to allow Williams the opportunity to withdraw his plea. Thereafter, the trial court denied the amended motion to withdraw the plea in case number 03-216. In Williams v. State, 934 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006), this court reversed the denial of Williams’ 3.850 motion and remanded for the trial court to grant Williams the opportunity to accept the illegality of the sentence imposed in 94-921 or to withdraw his plea in that case. Becaus…

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