REGINAL M. HARDY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Reginal Hardy appeals the denial of his motion to correct an illegal sexual predator designation imposed in a Brevard County case. The court reverses, holding that the Orange County conviction used as the predicate prior offense was improper because it occurred after Hardy's arrest for the Brevard County offense, violating the statutory requirement that a predicate conviction be entered prior to the commission of the current offense.
The Orange County conviction cannot be used as a predicate prior conviction for sexual predator designation in the Brevard County case because Florida Statute § 775.21(4)(b) requires that the predicate conviction and sentence be entered before the commission of the current offense. Since Hardy was arrested for the Brevard County offense on April 13, 2012, more than a year before the Orange County conviction on July 23, 2013, the predicate requirement was not satisfied.
[1] A conviction and sentence for a predicate offense must be entered before the commission of the current offense to qualify as a prior felony for the purpose of designating…
[2] A conviction entered after the commission of the current offense does not qualify as a prior felony under the sexual predator statute.
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“the felony must have resulted in a conviction sentenced separately, or an adjudication of delinquency entered separately, prior to the current offense and sentenced or adjudicated separately from any other felony conviction that is to be counted as a prior felony regardless of the date of offense of the prior felony”
States the statutory requirement that a predicate conviction must be entered before the current offense is committed
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHardy was arrested in Brevard County on April 13, 2012, for procuring a person under age 18 for prostitution. He was arrested in Orange County on Sept…
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Reginal Hardy appeals the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion to correct illegal sentence, which challenges his sexual predator designation. We reverse.
On April 13, 2012, Hardy was arrested in Brevard County for procuring a person under' age 18 for prostitution, a second-degree felony, in violation of section 796.03, Florida Statutes (2012). On September 12, 2012, he was arrested in Orange County for a separate commission of the same offense. On July 23, 2013, Hardy entered a plea to the Orange County case and was placed on probation for five years. Thereafter, on October 11, 2013, he entered a plea to the Brevard County case, was placed on probation for ten years, and was designated a sexual predator.1 The trial court used the Orange *829County conviction as the predicate prior conviction for the sexual predator designation, concluding the date of sentencing was controlling. This was error.
In order to be counted as a prior felony for the purpose of designating a defendant a sexual predator, “the felony must have resulted in a conviction sentenced separately, or an adjudication of delinquency entered separately, prior to the current offense and sentenced or adjudicated separately from any other felony conviction that is to be counted as a prior felony regardless of the date of offense of the prior felony.” § 775.21(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (2012) (emphasis added). This means the conviction and sentence on the predicate prior felony must be entered before the current felony is committed. See id.; Sadler v. State, 112 So.3d 498, 499 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (holding that a conviction and sentence for a predicate offense that is entered after the commission of the current offense does not qualify as a prior felony within the meaning of the sexual predator statute).
Applied to this case, the Orange County conviction can only be used as the predicate prior conviction for designating Hardy a sexual predator in the Brevard County case if he was convicted and sentenced in the Orange County case before the date of the Brevard offense. In other words, in order for the Orange County conviction to qualify as the predicate offense, the Bre-vard County case must have occurred sometime after July 23, 2013, which was the date Hardy was convicted and sentenced in Orange County.
Although the date the Brevard County offense was committed is not included in the record, it is not necessary for our analysis. Hardy was arrested for the Bre-vard County offense on April 13, 2012, more than a year before he was convicted and sentenced on the Orange County ease.2 As such, the Orange County conviction cannot be used to qualify him as a sexual predator.
Accordingly, we reverse the denial of Hardy’s motion to correct illegal sentence and remand for the trial court to strike the sexual predator designation.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
ORFINGER, BERGER, JJ., and JACOBUS, B.W., Senior Judge, concur.