TORONTO ANTONIO FLANDERS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2017-04-05
No. 3D17-0365
Before EMAS, LOGUE and LUCK, JJ.
217 So. 3d 160 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2017) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Toronto Antonio Flanders appealed a sentence that included habitual violent felony offender enhancements for a life felony (attempted first degree murder). The court affirmed the trial court's partial correction of the sentence, holding that under the 1995 version of Florida's habitual offender statute, life felonies could not be subject to habitual violent felony offender enhancements, but first degree felonies could be.


Holding

The court affirmed the trial court's partial correction of the sentence. The 1995 version of the habitual violent felony offender statute did not permit enhanced and mandatory minimum penalties for life felonies, so the enhancement for attempted first degree murder was properly removed. However, the enhancements for the non-life felonies (first degree and second degree felonies) were legal under the 1995 statute and were properly retained.


Headnotes

[1] A habitual violent felony offender statute in effect prior to October 1, 1995, did not provide for enhanced penalties for life felonies.

[2] A trial court may correct an illegal sentence by removing an improper habitual violent felony offender designation from a life felony conviction while leaving legal porti…

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Key Quotes

“the habitual violent felony offender statute in existence at the time [he] committed his offenses," March 1995, "did not provide [for an] enhanced habitual offender penalty for [a] defendant who committed [a] life felony.”

Flanders' argument that the 1995 statute did not permit habitual violent felony offender enhancements for life felonies

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Facts & Procedural History

In 1996, Flanders pleaded guilty to multiple felonies committed in March 1995, including attempted first degree murder (a life felony), attempted arme…

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Opinion of the Court
LUCK, J.

LUCK, J.

In 1996, Toronto Antonio Flanders pleaded guilty in case number F95-10717 to attempted first degree murder (a life felony), attempted armed robbery (a second degree felony), unlawful possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense (a second degree felony), and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (a second degree felony); and in case number F95-7991 to armed robbery (a first degree felony), unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (a second degree felony), and resisting an officer without violence (a misdemeanor). As to the attempted first degree murder, attempted armed robbery, and armed robbery counts, Flanders was sentenced as an habitual violent felony offender to thirty five years in state prison, with a fifteen year mandatory minimum term. As to the two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, Flanders was sentenced as an habitual violent felony offender to thirty years in state prison with a ten year mandatory minimum sentence.

Flanders moved to correct his illegal sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) because “the habitual offender statute in existence at the time [he] committed his offenses,” March 1995, “did not provide [for an] enhanced habitual offender penalty for [a] defendant who committed [a] life felony.” Flanders asked to correct his sentence by removing the habitual violent felony offender designation.

The trial court granted in part and denied in part Flanders’ motion. The trial court granted the motion as to Flanders’ sentence for attempted first degree murder because that charge was a life felony and the habitual violent felony offender statute, section 775.084(4) (1995), Fla. Stat., did not provide for an enhanced sentence in life felony cases committed prior to October 1,1995. The trial court corrected the attempted first degree murder sentence by removing the habitual violent felony offender designation and fifteen year mandatory minimum. As to the rest of Flanders’ sentence, the trial court denied the motion.

Flanders appealed, and we affirm. The version of the habitual violent felony offender statute in effect at the time Flanders committed his crimes, March 1995, did not permit enhanced and mandatory minimum penalties for life felonies. Lamont v. State, 610 So.2d 435, 438 (Fla. 1992) (holding “that one convicted of a life felony is not subject to enhanced punishment as a habitual offender under section *162775.084”).1 The trial court properly corrected only the portion of Flanders’ sentence that was illegal—the habitual violent felony offender enhancements on the attempted first degree murder charge—and left the remaining, legal portions of the sentence intact and untouched.

That is what the Florida Supreme Court did in Lamont. There, the defendant (Andre Lamont) had been sentenced as an habitual violent felony offender for armed sexual battery (a life felony), armed burglary (a first degree felony), and armed kidnapping (which was reclassified as a life felony under section 775.087(a)(1)). Id., at 486. The Florida Supreme Court concluded that it was error to sentence the defendant as an habitual violent felony offender for the life felonies, but found it was not error to apply the enhancement to the defendant’s conviction for armed burglary, which was a first degree felony, because the habitual violent felony offender statute included enhancements for first degree felonies. Id. at 438-39. The Court approved the district court’s decision “upholding the application of the habitual offender statute to [the] armed burglary conviction,” and quashed the decision finding that the statute applied to the life felonies. Id. at 439.

Here, as in Lamont, the trial court corrected the portion of Flanders’ sentence that applied the habitual violent felony offender statute to his life-felony attempted first degree murder charge, and denied the Rule 3.800(a) motion as to the rest. We affirm.


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