JONTREL CURTIS, 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.
Jontrel Curtis appealed an order on his motion to correct sentence, challenging the trial court's failure to award credit for prison time served before release on probation. The court affirmed the jail credit determination but reversed the denial of prison credit and remanded for reconsideration, holding that a properly pleaded claim for prison credit filed under the wrong procedural rule must still be addressed on the merits.
The court affirmed the postconviction court's determination of presentence jail credit but reversed its failure to award credit for prison time. When a defendant properly pleads a postconviction claim but styles it under the wrong procedural rule, the court must treat it as if filed under the appropriate rule and address it on the merits.
[1] A postconviction court must treat a properly pleaded claim for relief as if it were filed in an appropriately styled motion, even if the movant incorrectly styles the mot…
[2] A motion filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.801 is intended to correct sentences that fail to award credit for jail time served prior to sentencing, not for…
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“when a movant files a properly pleaded postconviction claim but incorrectly styles the postconviction motion in which it is raised, the post-conviction court must treat the claim as if it had been filed in an appropriately styled motion”
Establishes the key holding that substantive claims should not be dismissed merely for procedural styling errors
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCurtis pleaded guilty to scheme to defraud, four counts of grand theft, and two counts of burglary. He was initially sentenced to 48-month concurrent …
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 Correction Of Sentence cases and more on FLexlaw
Jontrel Curtis appeals the order granting in part and denying in part his Motion to Correct Sentence/Credit for Time Served filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.801. We affirm the post-conviction court’s determination of the amount of presentence jail credit but reverse as to the court’s failure to award credit for prison time and remand for further proceedings.
Mr. Curtis pleaded guilty to one count of scheme to defraud (count one), four counts of grand theft (counts three, four, five, and seven), and two counts of burglary of a dwelling (counts six and eight). The trial court sentenced him on each count to concurrent terms of forty-eight months’ imprisonment followed by twenty-four months’ probation. Shortly after he was released from prison, the trial court found that Mr. Curtis violated the terms of his probation, revoked his probation, and re-sentenced him to terms of sixty months’ imprisonment for each offense. The court fashioned the sentences imposed on the *136revocation of his probation to total ten years' imprisonment: counts three, four, and five run concurrently with count one; count six-runs consecutively to count one; and counts seven and eight run concurrently with count- six. The trial court awarded Mr. Curtis seventy-nine days’ credit for jail time served between the date of his arrest for violating the terms of his probation and the date he was resen-tenced.
. In his rule 3.801 motion, Mr. Curtis asserted that he had not been awarded credit for all of the jail and prison time to .which he was entitled. The postconviction court granted Mr. Curtis’s motion in part, awarding him one additional day of credit for jail time served between the date of his original arrest and the date of sentencing following his conviction and one additional day of credit for jail time served between the date of his arrest for violating his probation and the date of resentencing. However, the postconviction court did not address Mr. Curtis’s claim.-that, he was entitled to credit for prison time served before he was released on probation.
On appeal, Mr.’ Curtis argues that the court erred in not considering and granting his request for credit for time served in prison. We recognize that Mr. Curtis sought prison credit under the wrong rule of criminal procedure. Rule 3.801 provides for the correction of a sentence that fails to award a defendant credit for time the defendant spent in jail prior to sentencing; it does not provide for the correction of prison credit. Instead, a claim for credit for prison time is properly raised in a motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). See Calderon v. State, 138 So.3d 589, 589 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014). However, when a movant files a properly pleaded postconviction claim but incorrectly styles the postconvicr tion motion in which it is raised,-the post-conviction court must treat the claim as if it had been filed in an appropriately styled motion. See Gill v. State, 829 So.2d 299, 300 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). To the extent the postconviction court declined to consider Mr. Curtis’s properly pleaded claim for prison credit because it was incorrectly styled, this was error.
Thus, we reverse as to the court’s failure to award credit for prison time and remand for reconsideration on the merits. We note, that the State acknowledges that Mr. Curtis is entitled to credit for prison time served before he was released on probation. See State v. Rabedeau, 2 So.3d 191, 193 (Fla.2009) (“[I]f multiple convictions result in concurrent sentences, credit must be awarded for time'served on each sentence in any resentencing for the multiple convictions.”). As to the amount of jail credit awarded, we affirm but observe that Mr. Curtis’s judgment and sentence, which was attached to the postconviction court’s order, does not properly reflect the original award of seventy-nine days of credit. Although the trial court checked the paragraph awarding jail credit and indicated that it was awarding seventy-nine days, the court did not fill out the space indicating on which counts this credit was béing awarded.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
WALLACE and SLEET, JJ., Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Bryant v. State, 240 So. 3d 55 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)…ould receive.1 First, we reverse that portion of the trial court’s order finding that Bryant is entitled to a correction of jail credit. A claim for jail credit must be raised under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.801. See Curtis v. State, 197 So. 3d 135, 136 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (“Rule 3.801 provides for the correction of a sentence that fails to award a defendant credit for time the defendant spent in jail prior to sentencing; it does not provide for the correction of prison credit. Instead, a cl…
-
Elton Bolduc v. State, 251 So. 3d 314 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018)
-
Spear v. State, 294 So. 3d 995 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022)…of prison credit. Rivera v. State, 257 So. 3d 1142, 1144–45 & n.1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018) (recognizing that a challenge to an award of proper prison credit is properly raised in a rule 3.800(a) motion, which can be filed at any time); Curtis v. State, 197 So. 3d 135, 136 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). DID THE TRIAL COURT’S REDUCTION IN JAIL CREDIT VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION AGAINST DOUBLE JEOPARDY? Spear next argues that by sua sponte rescinding some of the jail credit that he was 7 The remainder of the rul…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Rabedeau, 2 So. 3d 191 (Fla. 2009)
- Gill v. State, 829 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)
- Calderon v. State, 138 So. 3d 589 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)