MICHELLE ANN PATRIZI, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The convictions and sentence are affirmed because the resisting offenses occurred in separate criminal episodes, and the denial of a downward departure sentence is not appealable by the defendant.
[1] Resisting an officer with violence and resisting an officer without violence constitute separate criminal episodes, and thus do not violate double jeopardy, when there is…
[2] A defendant cannot appeal a legal, bottom-of-range guidelines sentence imposed after the trial court denied a request for a downward departure, as such appeals are not pe…
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 intelligenceAfter a traffic stop, the appellant was arrested and resisted two officers, first without violence during an attempted escape and then with violence w…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Separate Criminal Episodes cases and more on FLexlaw
The defendant below appeals her convictions of both resisting an officer without violence and resisting a different officer with violence. She asserts that these convictions constitute double jeopardy and thus fundamental error. In addition, she challenges her legal, bottom-of-range guidelines sentence, imposed after the trial court denied her request for a downward departure. For the following reasons, the convictions and sentence are affirmed.
After a traffic stop, Appellant was arrested and transported to the police station by Officer Michael Henagan. When Officer Henagan parked in the police station parking lot, the appellant attempted to escape on foot but was promptly apprehended by Officer Henagan and escorted to the breath test room. Once inside, the appellant refused to remain seated, struggled with Officer Steven Jones, and “stomped on” Officer Jones’ foot as she resisted his efforts to restrain her in her seat. Appellant was charged with various crimes, including resisting officer Jones with violence (Count II) and resisting Officer Henagan without violence (Count VI). She entered a plea of nolo contendere and was adjudicated guilty of all charges.
Appellant’s characterization of her convictions for both resisting an officer with violence and resisting an officer without violence as double jeopardy and fundamental error must fail. Appellant’s acts resisting Officer Henagan and later, Officer Jones, were not part of a single criminal episode. “The test for determining whether two crimes occurred in the same criminal episode is whether there was a temporal break between the crimes, such that the defendant had an opportunity to pause, reflect, and form a new criminal intent.... If there was such a break, then the crimes occurred in separate criminal episodes and may be punished separately.” Beahr v. State, 992 So.2d 844, 846 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008).
Here, the appellant had an opportunity, after her flight in the parking lot was thwarted by Officer Henagan, to pause, reflect, and decide not to physically resist Officer Jones with violence in the breath test office. Accordingly, the crimes occurred in separate criminal episodes, the convictions were not fundamental error, and Appellant was not “twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.” Art. I, § 9, Fla. Const.
Regarding the trial court’s denial of a downward departure and entry of the legal, guidelines sentence, this sentence is not subject to appeal by the defendant under section 924.06, Florida Statutes. See also, Fla. R.App. P. 9.140(b)(1). “Subdivision (b)(1) lists the only matters that may be appealed by a criminal defendant, and it is intended to supersede all other rules of practice and procedure.” Fla. R.App. P. 9.140, Comm. Notes to sub-div. (l)(b), 1977 Amdmt. (emphasis supplied). The sentences which a defendant may appeal are limited to: an illegal sentence, a sentence which exceeds the statu*231tory maximum for the offense, and as “otherwise provided by law.” § 924.06(l)(d) & (l)(e), Fla. Stat.; Fla. R.App. P. 9.140(b)(1)(E) & (b)(1)(F).
This court has recognized that “[t]he courts of Florida have consistently held that the statutory scheme does not give the appellate courts the authority to review a trial court’s decision to deny a request for a downward departure sentence.” Stancliff v. State, 996 So.2d 259, 260 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); see also, Wyden v. State, 958 So.2d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007); Jorquera v. State, 868 So.2d 1250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Patterson v. State, 796 So.2d 572 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Melton v. State, 678 So.2d 434, 435 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996).
The state candidly disclosed to this court the opinions in Hines v. State, 817 So.2d 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) and McCorvey v. State, 872 So.2d 395 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). In those cases, the appellate courts did consider defendants’ appeals of their lowest-permissible guidelines sentences, imposed after the trial courts declined to depart downward. To the extent that these opinions “otherwise provided by law” an avenue for a defendant’s appeal of a guidelines sentences, the cases are distinguishable.
In both Hines and McCorvey, the trial courts assumed that under the circumstances of those cases, they were precluded as a matter of law from considering facts which might have qualified the defendants for mitigating circumstances to support downward departures. In contrast, the trial court in this case heard testimony and evaluated evidence to determine if the defense had established the mitigating factor provided in section 921.0026(2)(d), Florida Statutes. The court’s application of the statute to the facts presented was not “a misconception about its discretion in sentencing,” as was the case in both Hines and McCorvey. The guidelines sentence entered here is not subject to appeal by the appellant/defendant.
AFFIRMED.
VAN NORTWICK and MARSTILLER, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Fogarty v. State, 158 So. 3d 669 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)…ture, albeit using different standards of review. The first step is reviewable for legal error and competent substantial evidence. The second step as to whether to downwardly depart is reviewable for an abuse of discretion. But see Patrizi v. State, 31 So. 3d 229, 231 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010) (appellate court may review only instances of legal error in defining or applying trial court’s discretionary authority). For these reasons, we recede from J arqu-era and Marshall. Here, the trial court applied the two-pron…
-
Childers v. State, 171 So. 3d 170 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)…TS, C.J., BENTON and LEWIS, JJ., concur. . We acknowledge our prior holding that a guidelines sentence is not subject to appeal by the appellant/defendant where a trial court denies his or her request for a downward departure. See Patrizi v. State, 31 So. 3d 229, 230-31 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010). In Patrizi, we distinguished Hines and McCorvey on the basis that in the case before us, the “court’s [*174] application of the statute to the facts presented was not 'a misconception about its discretion in sentencing,'…
-
Ned William Wilson III v. State (Fla. 1st DCA 2020)
Authorities Cited
- Patterson v. State, 796 So. 2d 572 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
- Hines v. State, 817 So. 2d 964 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)
- Beahr v. State, 992 So. 2d 844 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)
- Sanchez v. State, 868 So. 2d 1250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)
- McCORVEY v. State, 872 So. 2d 395 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)
- Stancliff v. State, 996 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)
- Melton v. State, 678 So. 2d 434 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
- Jorquera v. State, 868 So. 2d 1250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)
- Ienco v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 958 So. 2d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)
- Vander Wyden v. State, 958 So. 2d 540 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)