RICK A. ROBLES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the trial court did not err in adding points for sexual penetration to the sentencing scoresheet without a jury finding, as it did not increase the sentence beyond the statutory maximum.
The defendant was sentenced for sexual battery and argued that jury findings were required for points added to his sentencing scoresheet for sexual pe…
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PLEUS, C.J.
Robles appeals his eight year sentence for sexual battery. He argues that the trial court erred in adding eighty points for sexual penetration to his sentencing scoresheet, which raised his minimum possible sentence, without a specific jury finding of penetration. He cites Appren- di1 and Blakely2 as support for this argument. However, Apprendi and Blakely only require jury findings for any fact that increases the penalty for a crime “beyond the statutory maximum.” Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. The imposition of sexual penetration points did not affect the statutory maximum sentence of fifteen years. Thus, Apprendi and Blakely did not require a jury finding of penetration. Instead, the trial judge was allowed to make this finding by a preponderance of evidence. See Gilson v. State, 795 So. 2d 105, 111 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001). The trial court’s finding of penetration was supported by the undisputed testimony of the victim and Robles. Accordingly, we affirm Robles’ sentence.
AFFIRMED.
THOMPSON and SAWAYA, JJ., concur. . Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).
. Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Olivera v. State, 58 So. 3d 352 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)…the maximum sentence allowed for a second degree felony.” Accordingly, the trial judge was allowed to find “penetration” by a preponderance of the evidence presented at trial and no specific jury finding of penetration was required. Robles v. State, 952 So. 2d 1210 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007). In the instant case, the evidence of penetration was un-controverted. Accordingly, the court’s assessment of penetration points was not erroneous. AFFIRMED. VAN NORTWICK and LEWIS, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (U.S. 2000)
- Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (U.S. 2004)
- Sharife v. Moore, 795 So. 2d 105 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
- Gilson v. State, 795 So. 2d 105 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)