HANS JOCHEL WARNCKE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Warncke appealed his sentence of eight concurrent twenty-year sentences for multiple robberies, arguing he should have received a life sentence and challenging the sentencing methodology. The court affirmed the sentence, finding no legal error and commending Warncke for his guilty plea and voluntary surrender.
The court affirmed the sentence, finding no warrant in statutes or cases for Warncke's claim that he would be eligible for parole in less than half the time under a life sentence. While the court identified that separate sentences would have been preferable for the breaking and entering and grand larceny counts, this error was harmless.
[1] A court may impose concurrent sentences for multiple offenses.
[2] A defendant's voluntary surrender and guilty plea may be considered favorably by the Probation and Parole Commission.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We can find no warrant in the statutes or cases for Warncke's statement that he would be eligible for parole in less than half the time had he been given a life sentence.”
Establishes that the court rejected Warncke's primary argument regarding parole eligibility under a life sentence.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWarncke pleaded guilty to a number of robberies and was sentenced to eight sentences of twenty years running concurrently, with credit for time served…
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Warncke is to be commended for surrendering voluntarily and pleading guilty to a number of robberies. If his attitude within the correctional system is as represented to us in his brief the Probation and Parole Commission will take due account of it and he will have paid his debt to society all the sooner for recognizing the unwisdom of a professional criminal career. He is serving eight sentences of twenty years, running concurrently, with credit for jail time served prior to sentence. He could *28have been sentenced to life. Fla.Stat. § 813.011, F.S.A. (1969). The trial judge obviously gave considerable credit to Warncke for his attitude. We can find no warrant in the statutes or cases for Warncke’s statement that he would be eligible for parole in less than half the time had he been given a life sentence. See Fla.Stat. § 947.16(1) (1969).
Thus we find no error. There is one item which, although harmless error, deserves discussion. A general sentence of twenty years was given in one case, involving counts of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony (Fla.Stat. § 810.-02) and grand larceny (Fla.Stat. § 811.021 (2)), the aggregate sentence being the sum of the máximums under each section. We think the reasoning of Judge Brown in Benson v. United States, 5th Cir. 1964, 332 F.2d 288, is persuasive and that separate sentences are desirable in these cases. In Evans v. State, Fla.App.1967, 197 So.2d 323, a 99-year sentence was upheld by the Third District, but that was less than the maximum possible under a single count. See also 21 Am.Jur.2d Criminal Law § 54b; Annotation, 91 A.L.R.2d 511. The error being harmless, we affirm. Fla.Stat. § 924.-33 (1969).
PIERCE, C. J., and LILES, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Darden v. State, 306 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975)…wenty year sentence between the robbery and assault with intent to commit murder convictions. HOBSON and GRIMES, JJ., concur. . Cone v. State (Fla.1973), 285 So. 2d 12. . (5th Cir. 1963), 332 F. 2d 288. . See Warncke v. State (Fla.App.2d, 1971), 247 So. 2d 27.…
Authorities Cited
- Benson v. United States, 332 F.2d 288 (5th Cir. 1964)
- Evans v. State, 197 So. 2d 323 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967)