MAYNOR E. MONNAR, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2006-10-16
No. 1D06-1923
WEBSTER, BENTON, and VAN NORTWICK, JJ„ concur.
939 So. 2d 251 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2006) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Monnar appealed the denial of his post-conviction motion challenging his sentencing based on Apprendi and Blakely principles. The court reversed, holding that Apprendi applies to cases resentenced after its issuance, and that the trial court's finding of severe victim injury without jury approval violated the Sixth Amendment.


Holding

The trial court's finding of severe victim injury violated Apprendi and Blakely protections because facts supporting a sentence beyond the statutory maximum must be found by a jury or admitted by the defendant. Apprendi and Blakely apply to cases resentenced after their issuance, and the summary denial of the motion was reversed.


Headnotes

[1] A statute requiring a trial court to impose a nonstate prison sanction is unconstitutional if it authorizes the court to make factual findings that increase a defendant's…

[2] A trial court's written findings that a defendant could present a danger to the public, used to impose a sentence of imprisonment beyond the statutory maximum of a nonsta…

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Key Quotes

“the statutory maximum is 'the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant'”

Defines the constitutional limit on judicial fact-finding in sentencing under Blakely

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Facts & Procedural History

In October 1997, Monnar was convicted of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and four counts of resisting an officer with violence, senten…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant seeks review of the denial of his motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In October 1997, appellant was convicted of one count of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and four counts of resisting an officer with violence and sentenced to 15 years and 18 days in prison. On appeal, we reversed three of the four convictions for resisting an officer with violence because all four charges arose out of a single criminal episode. Monnar v. State, 752 So. 2d 1252 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000). Appellant was resentenced in September 2000 to 88 months in prison, with the trial court assessing 40 points on appellant’s guidelines scoresheet for severe victim injury-

Appellant contends that the jury never found severe victim injury and, thus, the trial court’s assessment of victim injury points on his guidelines scoresheet violated his Sixth Amendment right, as explained in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), to have all facts increasing his sentence beyond the statutory maximum found by a jury. He further alleges that without the inclusion of the victim injury points, his maximum guidelines sentence would be 37 months in prison.

Pursuant to Apprendi, the facts supporting the imposition of a sentence beyond the statutory maximum must be found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury or admitted by the defendant. As clarified in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), the statutory maximum is “the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jm'y verdict or admitted by the defendant” (emphasis in original).

Therefore, under Apprendi and Blakely, appellant is entitled to a jury determination of severe victim injury when the inclusion of the points increases his sentence beyond the guidelines maximum. See Behl v. State, 898 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (applying the ruling in Apprendi to a trial court’s assessment of victim injury points).

Thus, the trial court’s finding of severe victim injury, which supported the increase in appellant’s guidelines sentence, violated appellant’s Sixth Amendment rights.

On appeal, the state asserts that Apprendi does not apply to appellant’s case because his convictions became final before Apprendi.

However, in Isaac v. State, 911 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), we held that Apprendi applies to cases, such as this one, where the defendant is resentenced after Apprendi was decided. But see Barron v. State, 931 So. 2d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (certifying conflict with Isaac); Galindez v. State, 910 So. 2d 284 (Fla. 3d DCA) (holding Apprendi did not apply to convictions rendered prior to its issuance notwithstanding future resentencing proceedings post-Blakely, and certifying conflict with Isaac), review pending, SC05-1341 (Fla. filed July 29, 2005); Garcia v. State, 914 So. 2d 29 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (certifying conflict with Isaac); Langford v. State, 929 So. 2d 598 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006) (certifying conflict with Isaac).

Furthermore, even though appellant was resentenced prior to Blakely, the holding of Blakely applies to appellant’s case because Blakely is a clarification of Apprendi. See Isaac, 911 So. 2d at 815; Morrow v. State, 31 Fla.

L. Weekly D466, - So. 2d -, 2006 WL 317016 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 13, 2006). Because Apprendi and Blakely apply to appellant’s case, we reverse the summary denial of appellant’s motion and remand to the trial court with directions that it either resentence appellant or refute appellant’s claim with record attachments.

REVERSED and REMANDED, with directions.

WEBSTER, BENTON, and VAN NORTWICK, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Maynor Efren Monnar, 976 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 2008)
    …PER CURIAM. We have for review Monnar v. State, 939 So. 2d 251 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006), in which the First District Court of Appeal acknowledged (but did not certify) conflict with Galindez v. State, 910 So. 2d 284 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005), approved, 955 So. 2d 517 (Fla.2007). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3),…
  • Bush v. State (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)
    …for resen-tencing under the 1994 sentencing guidelines. In preparing the scoresheet, victim injury points for sexual penetration should not be scored. See Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004); Monnar v. State, 939 So. 2d 251 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); Coggins v. State, 921 So. 2d 758 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); accord Behl v. State, 898 So. 2d 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); see also Isaac v. State, 911 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). REVERSED and REMANDED. BROWNING, C.J., ALLEN and VAN…

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