PETER THOMAS BYRA
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Peter Byra appealed the revocation of his probation and resulting three-year prison sentence following his no contest plea to felony battery. The appellate court affirmed the probation revocation and sentence but remanded for the trial court to vacate a duplicative judgment of guilt entered at the revocation hearing, since Byra had already been adjudicated guilty of the underlying offense at the original sentencing.
The trial court's duplicative judgment of guilt for the underlying felony battery was unauthorized and must be vacated because Florida statute § 948.06(2)(b) prohibits adjudging a probationer guilty of an offense if he has previously been adjudged guilty of that offense. The probation revocation order and resulting sentence of imprisonment are affirmed.
[1] A trial court may not enter a duplicative judgment of guilt for an offense for which the defendant has already been adjudicated guilty.
[2] A trial court must vacate an unauthorized, duplicative judgment of guilt entered after a probation revocation.
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“If probation or community control is revoked, the court shall adjudge the probationer or offender guilty of the offense charged and proven or admitted, unless he or she has previously been adjudged guilty.”
Establishes the statutory prohibition against entering a judgment of guilt for an offense if the probationer was previously adjudged guilty of that same offense.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceByra pleaded no contest to felony battery and was initially sentenced to thirty-six months' probation with a judgment of guilt entered on April 6, 201…
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NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
PETER THOMAS BYRA, ) DOC #948219, ) ) Appellant, ) ) v. ) Case No. 2D18-1297 ) STATE OF FLORIDA, ) ) Appellee. ) ___________________________________)
Opinion filed April 10, 2019.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Polk County, Keith P. Spoto, Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Robert D. Rosen, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Susan D. Dunlevy, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
BADALAMENTI, Judge.
Peter Byra pleaded no contest to felony battery and was sentenced to a thirty-six-month term of probation. He appeals the trial court's revocation order and the resulting sentence of three years' imprisonment. We write only to address a duplicative judgment entered by the trial court. After careful review, we remand with instructions for the trial court to vacate the March 12, 2018, duplicative judgment of guilt, which improperly adjudicated Byra guilty a second time for the underlying felony battery conviction. We affirm the revocation order and resulting sentence without comment.
"If probation or community control is revoked, the court shall adjudge the probationer or offender guilty of the offense charged and proven or admitted, unless he or she has previously been adjudged guilty. . . ." § 948.06(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2017) (emphasis added). Here, on April 6, 2016, the trial court entered a written judgment adjudicating Byra guilty of the underlying offense, felony battery. The probation office subsequently filed an affidavit of violation of probation, alleging that Byra violated particular terms of his probation. After a hearing, the trial court revoked Byra's probation and sentenced him to thirty-six months' incarceration.
Byra's sentence after revocation was memorialized in a written judgment and sentence rendered on March 12, 2018. The first page of this six-page order contains a duplicative judgment of guilt for the same underlying felony battery offense for which the court had previously adjudicated Byra guilty on April 6, 2016. This duplicative judgment of guilt for the underlying felony battery offense was unauthorized.
See Butler v. State, 195 So. 3d 1147, 1148 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) ("Duplicative adjudications of guilt after revocation of probation or community control are superfluous,
are unauthorized, and can cause undue confusion in future proceedings."). Thus, we remand with instructions for the trial court to vacate the March 12, 2018, unauthorized judgment of guilt for the underlying felony battery conviction because the trial court had already adjudicated him guilty of the underlying offense on April 6, 2016. See Schaufler v. State, 255 So. 3d 929, 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018); West v. State, 232 So. 3d 522, 523 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017). We affirm the revocation order and the corresponding sentence.
Affirmed; remanded with instructions.
KHOUZAM and BLACK, JJ., Concur.
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Authorities Cited
- Butler v. State, 195 So. 3d 1147 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
- Schaufler v. State, 255 So. 3d 929 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018)
- Oree Deandre West v. State, 232 So. 3d 522 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017)