ROBIN BREWER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Robin Brewer appealed the summary denial of her motion to correct an illegal sentence, claiming her 41-year 4-day sentence for second-degree murder exceeded the 40-year statutory maximum at the time of her offense. The appellate court reversed and remanded because the trial court failed to provide documented refutation of her claim, particularly where the State did not object.
The trial court must provide documented refutation of claims that a sentence exceeds the statutory maximum rather than summarily denying such motions, especially where the State does not oppose correction. The case is reversed and remanded for proper consideration.
[1] A trial court must conclusively refute a defendant's claim in a rule 3.800(a) motion to correct an illegal sentence before summarily denying it.
[2] A sentence exceeding the statutory maximum punishment for the offense is an illegal sentence.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the trial court's order fails to conclusively refute her claim, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.”
Establishes the standard that the trial court must affirmatively refute claims of illegal sentencing rather than simply deny them.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBrewer pled guilty on December 16, 1994, to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery with a firearm, and attempted robbery with a firearm. S…
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LAWSON, J.
Robin Brewer seeks review of the trial court’s summary denial of her rule 3.800(a) motion to correct illegal sentence. Because the trial court’s order fails to conclusively refute her claim, we reverse and remand for further proceedings. Brewer pled guilty on December 16, 1994, to charges of second degree murder, conspiracy to commit robbery with a firearm and attempted robbery with a firearm. She agreed to an upward departure sentence, and was sentenced on the charge of second degree murder to forty-one years and four days, with a three-year minimum mandatory term imposed for use of a firearm. She was also sentenced to concurrent fifteen-year terms on each of the other counts.
In a prior postconviction motion, Brewer alleged that her sentence for the charge of second degree murder was illegal because the maximum punishment at the time of her offense was either life or a term not exceeding forty years. See Ferguson v. State, 804 So. 2d 411 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). Although it appears from the limited record on appeal that the trial court granted Brewer’s prior motion, it also appears that the court never entered an amended judgment correcting Brewer’s sentence. Therefore, in her current motion, Brewer again requests that her sentence be corrected to a term of years not exceeding forty years. Both below and on appeal, the State indicates that it has no objection to the trial court’s entry of an amended judgment and sentence order correcting Brewer’s sentence as requested in her motion. However, without attaching documents from the record refuting Brewer’s claim, the trial court summarily denied her motion.
Therefore, we reverse and remand for further consideration of Brewer’s motion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
MONACO and EVANDER, JJ., concur.