MARION BECKOM, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Marion Beckom appealed his sentence of life imprisonment imposed after an escape attempt from county jail, challenging the trial court's authority to increase his sentence after he had already begun serving his original eight-year sentence for armed robbery. The appellate court reversed, holding that a defendant who receives jail credit toward his sentence has 'partly satisfied' his judgment, and the trial court lacks power to increase punishment after a judgment has been partly satisfied.
The trial court lacked authority to increase Beckom's sentence. Once a defendant entitled to jail credit under Fla.Stat. § 921.161 has begun serving a sentence, that judgment has been 'partly satisfied,' and the trial court cannot thereafter set aside the judgment and impose a new or different judgment increasing punishment, even during the same term of court.
“The rule seems to be well established that the trial court is without power to set aside a criminal judgment after it has been partly satisfied by the defendant, and impose a new or different judgment increasing the punishment, even at the same term of court at which the original judgment was imposed.”
Establishes the foundational rule that courts cannot increase sentences after a judgment has been partly satisfied, even within the same term of court.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn December 13, 1968, Beckom pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. A few days later, he was allegedly involve…
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Appellant Marion Beckom appeals to this Court from a judgment of conviction and sentence to life imprisonment entered against him by the Circuit Court for Sarasota County.
On December 13, 1968, Beckom pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment upon an information charging him with armed robbery. A few days thereafter he was allegedly involved in an escape attempt from the local county jail, and on January 3, 1969, he was again produced before the circuit court and was re-sentenced to life imprisonment. Upon this appeal, from the latter sentence, he challenged the second adjudication and sentence, contending that he had already started serving his first sentence when the jail incident happened and the circuit court thereafter lacked authority to bring him back and increase his sentence, even though it was during the same term of court. He also contends that his constitutional rights were violated when the court imposed the second sentence of life imprisonment against him for a reason that was not related to the original charge of armed robbery, namely, the attempted escape incident. However, since we are of the opinion for the reasons set forth below that the second adjudication and sentence were improper under Florida law, we do not find it necessary to discuss the merits of appellant’s argument based on the United States Constitution.
Beckom contends that when he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on December 13, 1968, and then was brought back before the court on January 3, 1968, he had already begun serving his December sentence, and therefore his January 3rd sentence to life imprisonment was unauthorized and illegal. In Smith v. Brown, 1938, 135 Fla. 830, 832, 185 So. 732, 733, our Supreme Court approved the following portion of 8 R.C.L. § 247 as representing the weight of authority on the matter:
“The rule seems to be well established that the trial court is without power to set aside a criminal judgment after it has been partly satisfied by the defendant, and impose a new or different judgment increasing the punishment, even at the same term of court at which the original judgment was imposed.”
The State counters that since appellant was sentenced by the trial judge to eight years imprisonment in the State prison in conformance with Fla.Stat. § 813.011, 1967, F.S.A., and the only place appellant was incarcerated prior to the second sentencing was in the County jail, his sentence had not been partially satisfied and the re-sentencing is therefore valid.
We are unable to accept the State’s position. Fla.Stat. § 921.161, 1967, F.S.A., provides that a person sentenced to imprisonment in the custody of the division of corrections, as was appellant, shall receive credit for time spent in the county jail between sentencing and delivery into the *234custody of the division toward the fulfillment of the entire sentence. In addition to presenting grave constitutional problems, as discussed in Deutschmann v. United States, 9th Cir. 1958, 254 F.2d 487, 489; Brown v. State, Ct.App.1965, 237 Md. 492, 207 A.2d 103; 24 C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1589, 1961, to say that one coming within the purview of this statute has not begun serving his sentence or has not partly satisfied the judgment is to deal with semantics rather than substance. Fla.Stat. § 921.161, 1967, enacted in 1961, F.S.A., clearly supersedes in its effect here the holding of cases such as Sinclair v. State, Fla.App.1957, 99 So.2d 238, and Dettmer v. Mayo, Fla.1952, 61 So.2d 192, that a sentence begins to run from the date the sheriff has had a reasonable time to effectuate a transfer of the prisoner from the county jail to the state prison.
The order re-sentencing appellant to life imprisonment under the judgment of conviction for armed robbery is therefore reversed and remanded with directions to enter sentence not to exceed the original sentence imposed.
McNULTY, J., concurs.
PIERCE, J., dissents.
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Flazell Troupe v. The Honorable Ellen Morphonios Rowe & the Honorable Paul Baker, 283 So. 2d 857 (Fla. 1973)…ransfer the case to respondent Judge Baker for trial. Petitioner filed a suggestion for writ of prohibition in the district court and upon its denial filed this petition for writ of certio-rari. Petitioner’s claim of conflict with Beckom v. State, 227 So. 2d 232 (Fla.App.1969), is founded on the presumption that [*861] the petitioner’s prison term began as soon as the first part of the sentence hearing was concluded. The accepted rule, which petitioner now argues, is that the trial court is without power to…1 / 2
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Hinton v. State, 446 So. 2d 712 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)…tates v. Benz, 282 U.S. 304, 51 S.Ct. 113, 75 L.Ed. 354 (1931); Troupe v. Rowe, 283 So. 2d 857 (Fla.1973). Once a defendant begins to serve his sentence, the court has no authority to resentence him to a longer term of imprisonment. Beckom v. State, 227 So. 2d 232 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969).1 In appellant’s case, the original ten-year sentences were legal sentences which could not thereafter be increased. Accordingly, the two life sentences are hereby vacated, and the case is remanded for reinstatement of the origin…
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Solomon v. State, 341 So. 2d 537 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977)…bation. Even when a court is authorized to modify a sentence, it may only mitigate and may not increase the sentence. United States v. Benz, 282 U.S. 304, 51 S.Ct. 113, 75 L.Ed. 354 (1931); Troupe v. Rowe, 283 So. 2d 857 (Fla.1973); Beckom v. State, 227 So. 2d 232 (Fla.2d DCA 1969). However, a grant of probation for a term which is longer than the sentence is not necessarily a reduction of sentence. Cf. Reynolds v. State, 339 So. 2d 714 (Fla.2d DCA 1976); Phillips v. United States, 212 F. 2d 327 (8th Cir. 195…
Previewing 3 of 10 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Smith v. Brown, 135 Fla. 830 (Fla. 1939)
- Deutschmann v. United States, 254 F.2d 487 (9th Cir. 1958)
- DeWitt Sinclair v. State of Fla. ex rel. James McSHANE, 99 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 1st DCA 1957)