MAURICE JAVON JACKSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2017-08-14
No. CASE NO. 1D13-5687
WOLF, LEWIS, and ROBERTS, JJ., CONCUR.
224 So. 3d 850 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2017)

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.

Synopsis

On remand from the Florida Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal reversed Maurice Javon Jackson's sentences and remanded for resentencing, holding that trial courts have discretion—not a mandatory requirement—to impose consecutive minimum mandatory sentences for firearm offenses arising from a single criminal episode with one victim.


Holding

Trial courts have discretion to order mandatory minimum sentences to run either consecutively or concurrently when multiple firearm offenses arise from the same criminal episode with one victim. The sentences are not required to be consecutive in such circumstances.


Headnotes

[1] Minimum mandatory enhancement sentences arising from a single criminal episode must run concurrently absent specific legislative authorization.

[2] The 10-20-life statute does not explicitly prohibit a judge from imposing the minimum mandatory sentences concurrent to each other.

Previewing 2 of 3 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

Key Quotes

“a trial judge has discretion to order the mandatory minimum sentences to run consecutively, but may impose the sentences concurrently.”

Establishes the core holding that trial courts have discretion in imposing mandatory minimum sentences for firearm offenses in single criminal episodes.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Jackson committed two gun-related offenses: attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. These crimes involved onl…

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.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

ON. REMAND FROM THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT ■

PER CURIAM.

We previously affirmed appellant’s sentences based on our en banc- decision in Walton v. State, 106 So.3d 522, 528 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (Walton I), where this court held that “any mandatory minimum term required by section 775.087(2)—whether the defendant fires a gun, or only carries or displays it—shall be imposed consecutively to any other term imposed for any other felony.” However, the Florida Supreme Court quashed our decision in this case and remanded for reconsideration in light of its decisions in Walton v. State, 208 So.3d 60 (Fla. 2016) (Walton II), and Williams v. State, 186 So.3d 989 (Fla. 2016).

In Williams, the supreme court held that the 10-20-Life statute does not- require consecutive sentences when the sentences arise from a single criminal episode. Rather, the supreme court held that “a trial judge has discretion to order the mandato*851ry minimum sentences to run consecutively, but may impose the sentences concurrently.” Williams, 186 So.3d at 993. In so determining, the supreme court noted that “[generally, consecutive sentencing of mandatory minimum imprisonment terms for multiple firearm offenses is impermissible if the offenses arose from the same criminal episode and a firearm was merely possessed but not discharged;” however, “[if] .., multiple firearm offenses are committed contemporaneously, during which time multiple victims are shot at, then consecutive sentencing is permissible but not mandatory.” Id. The supreme court did not explicitly discuss a case factually similar to this one, in which appellant committed two gun-related offenses, attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, but appellant’s crimes involved only one victim who sustained only one physical injury.

In line with our precedent outlined in Burns v. State, 212 So.3d 546 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017) and Wilson v. State, 219 So.3d 931 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017), we therefore REVERSE and REMAND appellant’s sentences for the trial court to reconsider whether, in its discretion, it wishes for appellant to serve his minimum mandatory sentences concurrently or consecutively. In so ruling, we certify conflict with Torres-Rios v. State, 205 So.3d 883 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016).

WOLF, LEWIS, and ROBERTS, JJ., CONCUR.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw