JOSEPH PAUL LOWERY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Joseph Lowery appeals the circuit court's decision to add a 3-year mandatory minimum sentence pursuant to Florida law while denying his request to withdraw his guilty plea. The appellate court affirmed, holding that Lowery's plea was not conditioned on avoiding a mandatory minimum, and that Rule 3.800 is not the proper vehicle to challenge plea validity.
The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's order granting correction of the sentencing error while denying plea withdrawal. Lowery's original plea was not conditioned upon an agreement that no mandatory minimum would be imposed, as evidenced by the 'Straight Up' notation in the Sentence Recommendation with no reference to such an agreement.
[1] A motion to correct an illegal sentence under Rule 3.800, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, is not the proper procedural vehicle to seek withdrawal of a plea.
[2] Withdrawal of a plea is not warranted when the record does not demonstrate that the original plea was conditioned upon an agreement that no mandatory minimum sentence wou…
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“Rule 3.800 addresses the correction of sentencing errors, not the voluntariness or validity of pleas.”
Establishes that the proper procedural mechanism for challenging sentencing is distinct from challenging plea validity
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLowery entered a guilty plea on December 14, 2000, with a Sentence Recommendation stating 'Straight Up' with no reference to an agreement that no mand…
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In this Anders1 appeal, Joseph Lowery seeks reversal of the circuit court’s grant *555of his motion to correct illegal sentence to add a 3-year minimum mandatory provision, pursuant to section 775.087(2), Florida Statutes, but denying his request to withdraw his plea entered December 14, 2000. Appellant argues that he is entitled to withdraw his plea upon the entry of the corrected sentence because the 3-year mandatory minimum provision violates his original plea agreement. He relies on Hurd v. State, 807 So.2d 753 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002) and State v. Moore, 854 So.2d 832 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (where plea entered with express understanding that mandatory minimum will not be imposed, defendant must have opportunity to withdraw plea when court is required to enter mandatory minimum) to support his position.
The circuit court correctly found that Appellant’s motion under rule 3.800, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, was not the proper avenue to seek withdrawal of his plea. See Johnson v. State, 60 So.3d 1045 (Fla.2011). Rule 3.800 addresses the correction of sentencing errors, not the voluntariness or validity of pleas.
We note that our independent review of the record in this Anders appeal, as required by State v. Causey, 503 So.2d 321 (Fla.1987), reveals that Appellant’s original plea was not conditioned upon an agreement that no mandatory minimum sentence would be entered. The Sentence Recommendation, signed by Appellant on December 14, 2000, is devoid of any reference to an agreement that no mandatory minimum sentence would be imposed. To the contrary, the notation in the section entitled “Terms of Plea Entry and Sentence Recommendation Agreed Upon by the State and Defendant” provides: “Straight Up.” In addition, while the original mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years was later corrected by the trial court, the plea was not the. reason for this change. Appellant’s claim that his original plea precluded the entry of a statutorily required mandatory minimum sentence is thus refuted in the record.
Accordingly, the order granting correction of sentencing error, entered January 2, 2012, is AFFIRMED.
PADOVANO, THOMAS, and CLARK, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967)
- State v. Causey, 503 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 1987)
- Johnson v. State, 60 So. 3d 1045 (Fla. 2011)
- Locklear v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 854 So. 2d 832 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)
- Powell v. State, 807 So. 2d 753 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)
- Hurd v. State, 807 So. 2d 753 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)