ANDRES MONTOYA, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2006-11-15
No. 3D06-2136
Before WELLS, CORTINAS, and ROTHENBERG, JJ.
943 So. 2d 253 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2006) Positive Treatment
Cited by 9 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

Andres Montoya appealed the denial of his motion to correct an allegedly illegal sentence imposed in 2003 for probation violation. The trial court included misdemeanor convictions from uncounseled pleas in the sentencing guidelines calculation. The court affirmed the denial, holding that although the scoresheet error was valid, the resulting one-month variance in the sentencing range was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt under the "could-have-been-imposed" standard applicable to Rule 3.800(a) motions.


Holding

The court agreed that including uncounseled misdemeanor convictions in the scoresheet was error, but held that under Rule 3.800(a), the "could-have-been-imposed" standard applies rather than the "would-have-been-imposed" standard. The scoresheet error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the one-month variance in the minimum sentencing range was minimal and the ten-year sentence imposed was well within the corrected range.


Headnotes

[1] A sentencing scoresheet error does not require resentencing if the change to the sentencing range is minimal and harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

[2] The "would-have-been-imposed" harmless error standard applies to motions filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 to correct scoresheet error.

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Key Quotes

“the would-have-been-imposed standard should apply to motions filed under rule 3.850 to correct scoresheet error”

Establishes the rule for Rule 3.850 motions, distinguishing them from Rule 3.800(a) motions

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Facts & Procedural History

Montoya was sentenced to ten years incarceration on March 25, 2003, for probation violation. The sentencing scoresheet included misdemeanor conviction…

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Opinion of the Court
ROTHENBERG, Judge.

ROTHENBERG, Judge.

The defendant, Andres Montoya (“Montoya”), appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. As the current motion, which attacks the legality of the sentence imposed, would be successive if treated as a rule 3.850 motion,1 the trial court, as requested by Montoya, treated the motion as a motion to correct illegal sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800. On appeal, Montoya also requests that this court treat his motion as filed pursuant to rule 3.800, if we determine that his motion is barred as untimely under rule 3.850. We, therefore, treat the instant appeal as an appeal from the trial court’s order denying relief pursuant to rule 3.800, and for the reasons that follow, affirm.

The disputed sentence was imposed on March 25, 2003, as a result of a finding by the trial court that Montoya violated his probation. At the time of sentencing, a sentencing scoresheet was prepared which, based upon Montoya’s current and prior convictions, placed the sentencing range at 77.8 months (6.487 years) to 36 years. The trial court sentenced Montoya to ten years incarceration, which was neither at the bottom of the guidelines, nor at the top.

Montoya claims that the inclusion of several misdemeanor convictions in computation of his sentencing guidelines range was error, as his convictions in those cases were as a result of uncounseled pleas. We agree. See State v. Beach, 592 So. 2d 237 (Fla.1992); Brye v. State, 677 So. 2d 1357 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (finding that defendant presented a prima facie showing of entitlement to relief on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel by alleging that counsel knew or should have known that prior uncounseled convictions were unscoreable). He also claims that by removing these improperly scored misdemeanor convictions, the scoreable points would be reduced from 131.8 points to 130.0 points, a 1.8 point reduction, which places him in a somewhat different sentencing range, and therefore, requiring re-sentencing.

While we agree that the 1.8 point reduction alters the defendant’s sentencing range, we disagree that under the circumstances herein presented that resentencing is required. If we were to compute the 1.8 point variance, Montoya’s sentencing v range would be 6.377 to 36 years, as opposed to 6.487 to 36 years, a difference of just over one month. As the sentence imposed was ten years, we conclude that the one month change to the bottom of the sentencing guidelines is minimal and harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

In support of this conclusion, we rely upon the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Anderson, 905 So. 2d 111 (Fla.2005), which while not conclusive, is instructive. In Anderson, the Court addressed the standard which should be applied when determining whether a score-sheet calculation error raised in a 3.850 motion warrants resentencing. The issue was whether to apply a “would-have-been-imposed” standard or a “could-have-been-imposed” standard. Under the “would-have-been-imposed” standard, a score-sheet error requires resentencing unless the record conclusively shows that the same sentence would have been imposed using a correct scoresheet, whereas, under the “could-have-been-imposed” standard, a scoresheet error does not require resentencing if the sentence could have been imposed (absent a departure) with a correct scoresheet. Id. at 111. The Court ultimately concluded that a properly calculated scoresheet is important when deciding the sentence to impose, and thus, “the would-have-been-imposed standard should apply to motions filed under rule 3.850 to correct scoresheet error.” Id. at 118. In reaching this conclusion, the Court, however, limited its holding to motions filed under Rule 3.850, stating:

Because it is essential for the trial court to have the benefit of a properly calculated scoresheet when deciding upon a sentence, we agree that the would-have-been-imposed standard should apply to motions filed under rule 3.850to correct scoresheet error. Rule 3.850places numerous burdens upon defendants, who largely file such motions pro se. The motion must be sworn and must meet certain pleading requirements. Importantly, the motion must be filed within two years after the conviction and sentence are final.

Because the defendant in this case timely filed his motion under rule 3.850, meaning he filed it within two years after his conviction was final, we need not decide whether the would-have-been-imposed harmless error standard also should apply to motions filed under rule 3.800(a), the rule under which Hum-mel filed her claim in the conflict case.7 We do note, however, that rule 3.800(a) permits a motion to be filed “at any time” after a conviction and sentence are final-even decades later. After the time for filing 3.850 motions has passed, the State’s interests in finality are more compelling. See, e.g., Maddox v. State, 760 So. 2d 89, 100 n. 8 (Fla.2000) (noting that “clearly the class of errors that constitute an ‘illegal’ sentence that can be raised for the first time in a post-conviction motion decades after a sentence becomes final is a narrower class of errors than those termed ‘fundamental’ errors that can be raised on direct appeal even though unpreserved”). Moreover, the would-have-been-imposed test, which requires a sentencing court to determine whether it would have imposed the same sentence using a correct scoresheet, may lose its effectiveness when a judge must decide the issue several years after the original sentencing. Therefore, the would-have-been-imposed standard may be too speculative and subjective for purposes of rule 3.800(a). Because Anderson’s motion was timely filed within the two-year period under rule 3.850, however, we need not reach that issue. We simply note that our decision in this case applies only to scoresheet error raised on direct appeal or in a motion filed under rule 3.850.

Id. at 118.2

In light of the Florida Supreme Court’s holding in Anderson, including the cited to passage above, we conclude, as did the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Brooks v. State, 930 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), that the “would-have-been-imposed” harmless error test should not be applied to motions filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a).

In Brooks, the Fourth District Court, sitting en banc, read rule 3.800(a) to allow relief to a narrower class of cases than rule 3.850, in part, because there is no time limit for the filing of a 3.800(a) motion, noting that “ ‘[a]fter the time for filing 3.850motions has passed, the State’s interests in finality are more compelling.’ ” Id. at 836 (quoting Anderson, 905 So. 2d at 118). The court, therefore, applied the “could-have-been-imposed” standard when determining whether the error was harmless. Thus, the court affirmed the trial court’s denial of Brook’s motion to correct his sentence, which was imposed on an incorrectly calculated sentencing score-sheet.

In the instant ease, Montoya could have been sentenced to thirty-six years in prison. Under the corrected scoresheet the lowest sentence which could have been imposed, absent a departure sentence, is 76.5 months or 6.377 years. The score-sheet relied upon by the trial court in sentencing Montoya, placed the bottom of the sentencing range at 77.8 months or 6.487 years, which is the difference of 1.3 months. As the trial court did not sentence the defendant near the bottom of the scoresheet and the difference is diminimis, we conclude that the calculation error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Brooks, 930 So. 2d at 835 (finding that a thirty-six point error to the scoresheet, which when corrected resulted in a change of the lowest permissible sentence from 66.3 months to 39.3 months, was harmless error not requiring resentencing where the defendant was sentenced to ten years and could have been sentenced to thirty years); Perez v. State, 840 So. 2d 1179, 1180 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (remanding for a scoresheet correction only to delete 1.2 points from the score, reducing the maximum sentence from 182.7 to 181.25 months); Eppert v. State, 712 So. 2d 461, 462 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (remanding for a two-point correction of the scoresheet but not for resentencing where the error resulted in only a lower range from 40.95 to 39.45 months and the defendant was sentenced to forty-eight months).

As did the Fourth District in Brooks, we certify conflict with Wilson v. State, 913 So. 2d 1277 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005).

Affirmed.

. On August 19, 2005, Montoya filed a motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied the motion on September 29, 2005, denied rehearing on December 1, 2005, and this court affirmed on March 23, 2006. Montoya v. State, 923 So. 2d 1178 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006). The instant 3.850 motion was filed on May 26, 2006, and, is therefore, successive and, thus, procedurally barred.

. Footnote 7 of the Anderson opinion provides as follows: "The opinion in Hummel does not reveal when the defendant filed her motion or when her sentence became final. [Hummel v. State,] 782 So. 2d at 451 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001).”


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  • Brooks v. State, 969 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 2007)
    …was separately charged and sentenced to a concurrent ten-year term. .Since the Fourth District's decision, the Third District, too, has adopted the could-have-been-imposed test for scoresheet errors raised under rule 3.800(a). See Montoya v. State, 943 So. 2d 253, 254-55 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (certifying conflict with Wilson). . The district court noted that it had insufficient record to determine whether the defendant entered a negotiated plea and suggested resentencing might not be warranted if that were the…
  • Henion v. State, 247 So. 3d 537 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)
    …0(b), or (3) Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850, then “any error is harmless if the record conclusively shows that the trial court would have imposed the same sentence using a correct scoresheet” (alteration in original)); Montoya v. State, 943 So. 2d 253, 254 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006) (“Under the ‘would-have-been-imposed’ standard, a scoresheet error requires resentencing unless the record conclusively shows that the same sentence would have been imposed using a correct scoresheet . . . .”). Appell…
  • Hanna MacOol v. State, 964 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)
    …PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Montoya v. State, 943 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006); Brooks v. State, 930 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), review granted, 948 So. 2d 758 (Fla.2007). THOMPSON, ORFINGER and MONACO, JJ., concur.…

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