ANNE COMEAUX, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2008-07-18
No. 5D07-3656
PLEUS and COHEN, JJ., concur.
988 So. 2d 101 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2008) Caution
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Anne Comeaux appealed her felony DUI conviction, challenging the use of a 1989 uncounseled DUI conviction to enhance her sentence. The court affirmed, holding that under Hlad v. State, an uncounseled prior DUI conviction may be used for enhancement if it did not result in actual imprisonment, and that awarding credit for time served against probation does not constitute imprisonment.


Holding

The court affirmed that the 1989 conviction could be used for enhancement. The court held that awarding credit for time served against a probationary sentence does not transform the sentence into an incarcerative sentence, and therefore the conviction did not 'result in the defendant's imprisonment' under Hlad's standard.


Headnotes

[1] A prior DUI conviction resulting from an uncounseled plea may be used to enhance a later DUI offense if the prior conviction did not actually result in the defendant's im…

[2] Awarding credit for time served against a probationary sentence does not transform the probationary sentence into an incarcerative sentence.

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Key Quotes

“a defendant's prior DUI conviction resulting from an uncounseled plea can be used to enhance a later DUI offense if the prior conviction "does not actually result in the defendant's imprisonment."”

Establishes the Hlad standard for when uncounseled prior convictions may be used for enhancement

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Facts & Procedural History

Comeaux entered a plea to felony DUI while preserving an issue for appeal. The State enhanced her crime using a 1989 DUI conviction that resulted from…

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Opinion of the Court
LAWSON, J.

LAWSON, J.

Anne Comeaux entered a plea to felony driving under the influence (“DUI”),1 preserving one issue for appeal. She argues that the trial court erred in permitting the State to enhance her crime to a felony using a 1989 DUI conviction that resulted from an uncounseled plea. We disagree and affirm.

Under Hlad v. State, 585 So. 2d 928, 930 (Fla.1991), a defendant’s prior DUI conviction resulting from an uncounseled plea can be used to enhance a later DUI offense if the prior conviction “does not actually result in the defendant’s imprisonment.”2 Comeaux argues that her 1989 conviction resulted in imprisonment for one day, and could therefore not be used for enhancement under Hlad.

The State argues that the 1989 conviction did not result in any imprisonment, and therefore could be used for enhancement under Hlad. The sentence imposed in 1989 was a one-year probationary sentence. The court then awarded Comeaux one day of credit against her probationary term for the day she spent in jail upon her arrest and prior to entry of her plea. Comeaux’ argument is that by awarding “time served,” the court necessarily imposed a one-day jail sentence. She cites no authority for this position, but makes what she views as a compelling logical argument that “[gjiving credit for time served necessarily imposes a jail sentence, otherwise there would be no need to award credit for time served.”

Contrary to Comeaux’ argument, the reason to give time served under these circumstances is to avoid a punishment that exceeds the statutory maximum penalty for the crime. See Netherly v. State, 873 So. 2d 407, 410 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (holding that credit must be given against a probationary sentence for time “spent in jail” where failure to give the credit will result in a punishment longer than the statutory maximum permitted for the crime).

Importantly, it was not Comeaux’ conviction in this case that “resulted] in the defendant’s imprisonment,” Hlad, 585 So. 2d at 930, because the sentencing judge only imposed probation. Rather, her arrest resulted in her temporary confinement, which the sentencing judge had to give her credit for when he imposed the year of probation. But, simply crediting Comeaux with the day she spent in jail prior to her plea, against an imposed probationary sentence, did not transform a day of her probationary sentence into an incarcerative sentence.

AFFIRMED.

PLEUS and COHEN, JJ., concur. . See § 316.193(1), (2), Fla. Stat. (2006).

. Under Hlad, the State is also barred from using a conviction obtained pursuant to an uncounseled plea for later enhancement where the conviction could have resulted in the defendant’s imprisonment for more then six months. Hlad, 585 So. 2d at 928. As explained in State v. Kelly, 946 So. 2d 1152, 1153 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), rev. granted, 949 So. 2d 199 (Fla.2007), in reaching this result "the Hlad court relied primarily on Baldasar v. Illinois, 446 U.S. 222, 100 S.Ct. 1585, 64 L.Ed.2d 169 (1980), which was not entirely clear as to whether it is actual imprisonment, or the possibility of imprisonment for more than six months, which makes an uncoun-seled prior misdemeanor conviction unavailable for enhancement.” However, "[a]fter the Florida Supreme Court decided Hlad, the United States Supreme Court overruled Bal-dosar and clarified that it was only actual imprisonment which would preclude a prior uncounseled misdemeanor conviction from being used to enhance.” Id. at 1153-54 (citing Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738, 114 S.Ct. 1921, 128 L.Ed.2d 745 (1994)).

The Nichols court, however, left the states free to guarantee a right to counsel for indigent defendants charged with misdemeanors where there is no prison term imposed, but imprisonment is a possibility — and the issue is currently pending again in the Florida Supreme Court. As for this case, Comeaux' 1989 conviction under section 316.193, Florida Statutes (1989), only subjected her to a potential jail sentence of six months.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Dunning, 995 So. 2d 1162 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008)
    …sentence of time served is not equivalent to a sentence of imprisonment because Dunning was not required to serve any time following his conviction. The State’s argument has been espoused by the Fifth District Court of Appeal. See Comeaux v. State, 988 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008). In Comeaux, the defendant entered a plea to felony driving under the influence while preserving the issue of the propriety of using a prior uncounseled conviction to enhance the crime to a felony. Id. at 102. The defendant argue…
  • State v. Brown, 995 So. 2d 1034 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
    …e defendant’s argument that by awarding him forty-eight hours of credit for the time he spent in jail after his arrest and before entering his plea, the trial court necessarily imposed a term of imprisonment on his conviction. See Co-meaux v. State, 988 So. 2d 101 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008) (holding that fact that defendant was given one day of credit for the day she spent in jail after her arrest and before entering her plea did not mean that [*1038] her prior conviction resulted in imprisonment; thus her DUI convi…

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