STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
STEVEN WATSON JOSEPH, APPELLEE
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The court held that the trial court erred in withholding adjudication for a first-degree felony offense.
Steven Watson Joseph pleaded guilty to armed robbery with a firearm, a first-degree felony. The trial court withheld adjudication and imposed probatio…
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CASANUEVA, Judge.
The State appeals the solitary issue of the trial court’s withhold of adjudication on Steven Watson Joseph’s conviction for armed robbery with a firearm. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Mr. Joseph entered an open guilty plea to one count of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, a firearm, in violation of section 812.13(2)(a), Florida Statutes (2006). That offense is a first-degree felony punishable by life imprisonment. Id. The trial court chose to withhold adjudication and imposed a fifteen-year term of probation. Mr. Joseph concedes, and we agree, that the withhold of adjudication was error. Section 775.08435(1)(a) provides that a trial court may not withhold adjudication of guilt for “[a]ny capital, life, or first degree felony offense.” Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s withhold of adjudication and remand for an adjudication of guilt. Because this is the only issue we address on appeal, the trial court may not change any other aspect of Mr. Joseph’s conviction and sentence.
Ordinarily, the defendant would not need to be present on remand because the statute mandates adjudication of guilt and the trial court is without discretion. In this case, because it appears that Mr. Joseph is currently on probation, the trial court should afford him the opportunity to be present if he so chooses.
Reversed and remanded.
WHATLEY and WALLACE, JJ„ Concur.
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State v. Foster, 114 So. 3d 422 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013)…bly, Foster concedes error, based upon the plain language of section 775.08435(l)(a), Florida Statutes (2012), which prohibits a court from withholding an adjudication of guilt upon a defendant who commits a first-degree felony, and State v. Joseph, 995 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 2nd DCA 2008) (recognizing that section 775.08435(l)(a) prohibits trial courts from withholding an adjudication of guilt on a defendant convicted of a first-degree felony). See also State v. Ketchum, 111 So. 3d 197 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). Accord…