CRAIG EUGENE EDWARDS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE.
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Craig Edwards, sentenced as a juvenile for attempted felony murder and robbery with firearms, appealed the trial court's imposition of consecutive minimum mandatory sentences. The Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District affirmed, finding that although the trial court initially believed consecutive sentences were required by statute, the court's subsequent orders after being presented with Williams v. State demonstrated it understood its discretionary authority and deliberately chose to impose the sentences consecutively.
The court affirmed the consecutive minimum mandatory sentences, finding that although the trial court initially misunderstood the statute as requiring consecutive sentences, the court's subsequent orders after being twice presented with Williams v. State demonstrated the court understood its discretionary authority and made a deliberate choice to impose the sentences consecutively.
[1] A trial court's belief that consecutive minimum mandatory sentences are required, rather than permissible, under a statute warrants reversal for resentencing.
[2] A trial court, having been presented with case law establishing its discretion to impose sentences concurrently, may choose to re-impose consecutive minimum mandatory sen…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Where the record indicates that a trial court believed that consecutive minimum mandatory sentences were required rather than permissible under section 775.087, reversal for resentencing is required.”
Establishes the general rule that normally triggers reversal when a trial court misunderstands the scope of its sentencing authority.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceEdwards was convicted of attempted felony murder with a firearm (count 3) and robbery with a firearm (count 4) when he was sixteen years old. The tria…
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Craig Edwards appeals two of his consecutively imposed minimum mandatory sentences. We affirm.
Edwards was sentenced for several crimes committed when he was sixteen years of age. Two of the charges of which he was convicted were attempted felony murder with a firearm (count 3) and robbery with a firearm (count 4). The trial court originally sentenced Edwards to life in prison for counts 3 and 4, which included minimum mandatory sentences per count imposed consecutively.
Edwards subsequently obtained an evidentiary hearing for reevaluation of his sentences based on Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010).1 At that hearing, the trial court analyzed section 775.087, Florida Statutes (2017), under which Edwards was sentenced, then stated, "unfortunately, the statute requires consecutive time, consecutive min-man time" for counts 3 and 4. The court resentenced Edwards to concurrently serve 45 years on counts 3 and 4, but re-imposed the minimum mandatory sentences on the counts consecutively.
Edwards then filed a motion to correct sentencing error, arguing in part that under Williams v. State, 186 So.3d 989 (Fla. 2016),2 "[c]onsecutive sentencing is not mandatory under [ section 775.087 ] under these circumstances and the Court has the discretion to run counts 3 and 4 concurrently." The court entered an order reiterating that the minimum mandatory sentences were to run consecutively.3
Edwards filed a motion for rehearing, again calling the court's attention to Williams. Regarding the consecutively imposed minimum mandatory sentences, the *358court stated, "Counts 3 and 4 of this case each have a 20-year minimum mandatory, which the Court is imposing consecutive to each other for a total of 40 years. That ruling was not a scrivener's error and Defendant has not argued or proven that the statute does not permit it."
Where the record indicates that a trial court believed that consecutive minimum mandatory sentences were required rather than permissible under section 775.087, reversal for resentencing is required. See James v. State, 43 Fla. L. Weekly D816 (Fla. 2d DCA Apr. 18, 2018) ; Mason v. State, 210 So.3d 120, 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). It is clear that at Edwards's initial resentencing, the trial court believed that it was required to impose the minimum mandatory sentences consecutively. However, Edwards presented Williams to the court in both his motion to correct sentencing error and motion for rehearing. The court's order on rehearing stating that the imposition of consecutive minimum mandatory sentences was not a scrivener's error and that the sentence imposed was one permitted by statute, in conjunction with the fact that the court had specifically been provided Williams twice, persuades us that the court was aware of its discretion to impose the sentences concurrently, and instead chose to re-impose the sentences consecutively. Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.
PALMER and ORFINGER, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Marquez-Gonzalez v. State (Fla. 5th DCA 2021)…a single criminal episode”). “Where the record indicates that a trial court believed that consecutive minimum mandatory sentences were required rather than permissible under section 775.087, reversal for resentencing is required.” Edwards v. State, 252 So. 3d 356, 358 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018) (citing James v. State, 244 So. 3d 1142 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018); Mason v. State, 210 So. 3d 120, 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)). 1 Appellant also makes several arguments challenging the admission of a plea agreement into evidence, chal…
Authorities Cited
- Graham v. Florida (1st Cir. 2010)
- Williams v. State, 186 So. 3d 989 (Fla. 2016)
- Mason v. State, 210 So. 3d 120 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
- Edwards v. State, 43 Fla. L. Weekly D816 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018)