ZACHARY LAMBERT, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that a 15-year sentence for aggravated fleeing, a non-homicide offense, does not constitute a de facto life sentence for a juvenile offender and thus does not violate Graham v. Florida.
[1] A sentence of life without parole for a juvenile convicted of a nonhomicide crime violates the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
[2] Juvenile nonhomicide offenders cannot be sentenced to terms that ensure imprisonment without a meaningful opportunity for release based on demonstrated maturity and rehab…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA 16-year-old defendant, Lambert, stole a truck and led police on a high-speed chase, resulting in a fatal crash. He pled guilty to vehicular homicide…
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ON MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION
We grant Appellee’s motion for clarification, withdraw our original opinion issued on April 15, 2015, and substitute this opinion in its place.
The defendant, Zachary Lambert, appeals the trial court’s order denying his rule 3.800(b)(2) motion to correct sentencing error in which he challenged the legality of his sentences under Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010). We affirm for the reasons that follow.
On the day before Thanksgiving in 2011, Lambert stole a truck and led police on a high-speed chase through Jacksonville at speeds reaching more than 100 miles per hour. The chase ended when Lambert’s truck slammed into the driver’s side door of the truck being driven by Chris Thompson, a 22-year-old college student. Thompson was killed in the crash, which the investigating officer with the Florida Highway Patrol described as “one of the most horrific scenes [he] ever witnessed in [his] 24 years in law enforcement.” Lambert was 16 years old at the time of these crimes and he had an extensive prior juvenile record.
Lambert pled guilty to vehicular homicide (count 1), aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer (count 2), and grand theft of an automobile (count 3). He was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to concurrent 15-year prison terms on counts 1 and 2, followed by five years of mental health probation on count 3. We granted Lambert a belated appeal of his judgment and sentence. See Lambert v. State, 136 So.3d 1288 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014).,
Prior to filing his initial brief, Lambert filed a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion to correct sentencing error in which he argued that his term-of-years sentences for counts 1 and 2 should be amended to reflect that he is entitled to parole eligibility pursuant to the reasoning in Graham and Judge Pado-vano’s concurring opinion in Smith v. State, 93 So.3d 371 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012). The trial court denied the motion, finding that (1) Graham was not applicable to the homicide offense in count 1, and (2) Graham was not applicable to the nonhomicide offense in count 2 because Lambert was not sentenced to life in prison (nor could he have been1) and his 15-year sentence on that count did not amount to a de facto life sentence. Lambert then filed his initial brief, challenging only the denial of his rule 3.800(b)(2) motion as it relates to count 2.
In Graham, the United States Supreme Court held that the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment “forbids the sentence of life without parole” for a juvenile convicted of a nonhomi-cide crime. 560 U.S. at 74, 130 S.Ct. 2011. The Court explained that this rule does not require the states to guarantee eventu*76al freedom to juveniles convicted of nonho-micide crimes, but rather it merely requires the states to give such offenders “some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” Id. at 75, 130 S.Ct. 2011. In Henry v. State, the Florida Supreme Court extended the rule adopted in Graham to term-of-years sentences that amount to life in prison, holding that:
Graham prohibits the state trial courts from sentencing juvenile nonhomicide offenders to prison terms that ensure these offenders will be imprisoned without obtaining a meaningful opportunity to obtain future early release during their natural lives based on their demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.
-So.3d-, 2015 WL 1239696, 40 Fla. L. Weekly S147, S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015); see also Gridine v. State, — So.3d-, 2015 WL 1239504, 40 Fla. L. Weekly S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (quashing decision affirming a juvenile’s 70-year sentence for attempted first-degree murder and remanding for resentencing in accordance with Henry).
We do not read Hem°y or Gridine to require that all juveniles convicted of non-homicide crimes must be given an opportunity for early release by parole or its equivalent from their term-of-years sentences. Rather, we read those cases to simply hold that juvenile offenders convicted of nonhomicide crimes cannot be sentenced to an individual or aggregate term-of-years sentence that amounts to a de facto life sentence that does not afford the offender a meaningful opportunity for release during his or her natural life.
Here, unlike the sentences in Henry (90 years) and Gridine (70 years), the 15-year sentence Lambert received on count 2 does not amount to anything close to a de facto life sentence. Indeed, with gain-time, Lambert may still be in his twenties when he is released from prison;2 and, even without any gain-time, Lambert will be released when he is 31 years old. Moreover, the executive clemency process is available to Lambert to seek earlier release based on a showing of maturity or rehabilitation. See generally art. IV, § 8(a), Fla. Const.; Ch. 940, Fla. Stat. Accordingly, Lambert’s 15-year sentence on count 2 not only affords him a meaningful opportunity for release during his natural life, it guarantees it.
Finally, even if we were to construe Henry and Gridine to require Lambert to be given an opportunity for parole or its equivalent on his nonhomicide offense in count 2, that would not impact Lambert’s release from prison because his sentence on that count is the same length as and is concurrent with his sentence on count 1. Lambert has not challenged his sentence on count 1 in this appeal, and as the trial court correctly determined, that sentence is not subject to Graham because count 1 was a homicide offense.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Lambert’s rule 3.800(b)(2) motion and his judgment and sentence.
AFFIRMED.
ROWE and MAKAR, JJ., concur.
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Kelsey v. State, 206 So.3d 5 (Fla. 2016)…elsey the same relief afforded to Henry because Kelsey’s forty-five-year prison term did not constitute a de facto life sentence in violation of Graham. Id. at 441 (citing Abrakata v. State, 168 So. 3d 251, 252 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015); Lambert v. State, 170 So. 3d 74, 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)). Specifically, the First District stated, “Because the concurrent resentences at issue in this case do not violate Graham, we are constrained to deny relief.” Id. After recognizing our guidance in Thomas v. State, 135 So. 3…
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Kelsey v. State, 183 So. 3d 439 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)…Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (“absent a violation of Graham, there is no legal basis to retroactively apply section 921.1402 (or any other provision of the'juvenile sentencing legislation enacted in 2014) to the 2011 offense in this case.”); Lambert v. State, 170 So. 3d 74, 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (“Here, unlike the sentences in Henry (90 years) and Gridine (70 years), the 15-year sentence Lambert received on count 2 does not amount to anything close to a de facto life sentence.”). Because the concurrent re-sentences a…1 / 3
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Edema Abrakata v. State, 168 So. 3d 251 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)…] mum term will require Appellant to serve his 25-year sentence day-for-day,. the sentence does not amount to a de facto life without parole sentence since Appellant will be in his early forties when he is released from prison. See Lambert v. State, 170 So. 3d 74, 2015 WL 3541914, 40 Fla. L. Weekly D1347 (Fla. 1st DCA June 8, 2015) (on motion for clarification) (rejecting argument that juvenile’s 15-year sentence violates Graham because he will be in his late twenties or early thirties when he is released fr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Graham v. Florida (1st Cir. 2010)
- Smith v. State, 93 So. 3d 371 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012)
- Lambert v. State, 136 So. 3d 1288 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)