MARTELL LAVON PALMER
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2026-01-23
No. 2023-0854
Charbula, J., Makar, J., Boatwright, J., Kilbane, J.
2026 FL 802 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2026)

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Holding

A defendant's due process rights are violated when mandatory minimum sentences are added to a sentence without the defendant's presence at sentencing, regardless of whether the correction changes the term of the sentences.

Headnotes

[1] A defendant's due process rights are violated when mandatory minimum sentences are imposed without the defendant's presence at sentencing, even if the mandatory minimums…

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Key Quotes

“a defendant's due process rights are violated when mandatory minimum terms are added to a sentence without the defendant's presence”

Court citing Solomon v. State for the principle that due process requires the defendant's presence when mandatory minimums are imposed, even if they do not change the sentence
Facts & Procedural History

Martell Lavon Palmer appealed a partial denial of his Rule 3.800(b)(2) motion challenging the legality of mandatory minimum sentences entered in the t…

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Topics
Sentencing Rights Florida Rule Of Criminal Procedure 3.800(B)(2) Due Process In Sentencing Mandatory Minimum Sentence

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Per_curiam
Per Curiam

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

_____________________________ Case No. 5D2023-0854 LT Case No. 2021-CF-010135-A _____________________________ MARTELL LAVON PALMER, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. _____________________________ On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County. Meredith Charbula, Judge. Matthew J. Metz, Public Defender, and George D.E. Burden, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Adam B. Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee. January 23, 2026

PER CURIAM.

In this appeal from a partial denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2) motion, Martell Lavon Palmer appeals the legality of the trial court’s entry of mandatory minimum sentences in the written order that were not orally pronounced at his sentencing hearing. Although the mandatory

REVERSED and REMANDED for resentencing consistent with this opinion.

MAKAR, BOATWRIGHT, and KILBANE, JJ., concur.2

Footnotes
2 minimum sentences do not increase his sentence and his presence for such a sentencing would thus be “useless, or the benefit but a shadow,”1 precedence from this Court requires reversal. See Solomon v. State, 254 So. 3d 1121, 1125 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018), disapproved of on other grounds by Earl v. State, 314 So. 3d 1253 (Fla. 2021) (ordering the defendant be brought before the trial court to impose the mandatory minimum sentences even though the correction would not change the term of his sentences, because “a defendant’s due process rights are violated when mandatory minimum terms are added to a sentence without the defendant’s presence”).

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