DAVID LAHENS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Appellant challenged the trial court's denial of jail credit for time served while awaiting sentencing. The court affirmed, holding that appellant's written plea agreement, which explicitly stated he agreed to waive all credit except 182 days, constituted a valid, specific, and voluntary waiver of the remaining jail credit to which he would otherwise be entitled.
The court held that appellant's signature on the written plea agreement constituted a valid, specific, and voluntary waiver of the one-year jail credit for time served, and the trial judge properly denied the motion to correct. The waiver satisfied the requirement that appellant knew of his entitlement to additional jail credit and voluntarily waived that right.
[1] A criminal defendant is entitled to credit for all time served in jail before sentencing.
[2] A criminal defendant may waive jail credit if the waiver is specific, voluntary, and clear from the record.
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“a criminal defendant is "entitled to credit for all time served in Florida jails before sentencing," but such credit "may be waived" if the defendant's waiver is "specific, voluntary and clear from the face of the record."”
Establishes the legal standard for valid jail credit waivers.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDavid Lahens pled guilty to robbery with a firearm, burglary of an occupied structure with a firearm, and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was se…
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The issue presented in this appeal is whether the trial court properly denied appellant’s motion for jail credit pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). Because appellant executed a written waiver of the credit to which he otherwise would have been entitled, we affirm.
Appellant pled guilty to robbery with a firearm, burglary of an occupied structure with a firearm, and aggravated assault with a firearm and was sentenced to six years in prison. The written plea agreement stated that appellant would receive a 182-day credit for time served in the Palm Beach County Jail and that appellant “agrees to waive all other credit in this case (1 year).”
In computing a sentence, a criminal defendant is “entitled to credit for all time served in Florida jails before sentencing,” but such credit “may be waived” if the defendant’s waiver is “specific, voluntary and clear from the face of the record.” White v. State, 995 So.2d 1172, 1173 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). We believe appellant’s signature on the written plea agreement evinces a specific and voluntary waiver of the one-year credit for time served, and the trial judge was correct to deny appellant’s motion to correct.
We find this case to be distinguishable from Velasquez v. State, 11 So.3d 979 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009). In Velasquez, the First District held that a notation of the amount of a jail credit on a written plea agreement “is not sufficient in the absence of evidence ‘that the defendant knew of his entitlement to additional credit and voluntarily relinquished that right.’ ” Id. at 980 (quoting Davis v. State, 968 So.2d 1051, 1053 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)). While the written plea agreement listed the credit the defendant would receive, the First District found no indication on the agreement that the defendant was aware of the credit he waived as part of the plea agreement.
Here, the written plea agreement, bearing appellant’s signature, states that he agreed to waive a full year of credit. We find that this notation on the written plea agreement satisfies the requirement that appellant “knew of his entitlement” to additional jail credit and voluntarily waived his right to that credit.
Affirmed.
GROSS, C.J., WARNER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Trett v. State, 39 So. 3d 396 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010)…PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See Lahens v. State, 27 So. 3d 174 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). ORFINGER, TORPY and COHEN, JJ., concur.…
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Howard v. State, 40 So. 3d 46 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)…absence of evidence that the defendant knew of his entitlement to additional credit and voluntarily relinquished that right.” Velasquez v. State, 11 So. 3d 979, 980 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (internal quotations and citation omitted); cf. Lahens v. State, 27 So. 3d 174, 175 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (finding Velasquez to be distinguishable where written plea agreement, stating that the defendant agreed to waive a full year of credit, satisfies the requirement that a defendant “knew of his entitlement” to additional jail…
Authorities Cited
- Davis v. State, 968 So. 2d 1051 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)
- Watts v. State, 995 So. 2d 1172 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
- Delmar Velasquez v. State, 11 So. 3d 979 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009)