MARCUS A. UPSHAW, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE.
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Upshaw's six-year sentence for felony petit theft was illegal because the trial court's scoresheet improperly classified his prior conviction, requiring resentencing to comply with the statutory maximum.
A trial court must vacate and resentence a defendant when the sentencing scoresheet erroneously uses a prior conviction as the primary offense rather than as a prior offense, resulting in an illegal sentence exceeding the statutory maximum.
[1] A sentencing scoresheet that improperly designates a prior conviction as the primary offense rather than as a prior offense renders the resulting sentence illegal when it…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn June 2015, Upshaw pleaded nolo contendere to felony petit theft and was sentenced to six years in prison, the lowest permissible sentence according…
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Marcus Upshaw appeals the summary denial of his motion to correct illegal sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). The State properly concedes that one of the issues raised by Upshaw has merit.
In June 2015, Upshaw entered a nolo contendere plea on Count I in case number 2014-CF-002517 to felony petit theft, a third-degree felony. Upshaw was sentenced to six years in prison on that count, the lowest permissible sentence as reflected on his scoresheet. However, as the State acknowledges, the scoresheet was erroneous because it improperly used Upshaw's 2010 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon conviction as the primary offense, rather than as a prior offense. Because a properly calculated scoresheet would yield a lowest permissible sentence on this charge of less than five years, the trial court was precluded from imposing a sentence greater than the five-year statutory maximum. Accordingly, on remand, *1021the trial court is directed to vacate the sentence imposed on Upshaw's felony petit theft conviction in case number 2014-CF-002517 and to resentence him. We find the other issues raised by Upshaw to be without merit.
AFFIRMED, in part; REVERSED, in part; and REMANDED.
COHEN, C.J. and ORFINGER and EVANDER, JJ., concur.