LEON THOMAS AND RANDOLPH WILBUR SCOTT, APPELLANTS,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1976-02-05
No. Z-194
MILLS, J., concurs., BOYER, C. J., dissents.
327 So. 2d 63 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1976) Positive Treatment
Cited by 10 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Leon Thomas and Randolph Wilbur Scott pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property pursuant to a plea bargain where the State recommended probation. The trial court ignored this recommendation and imposed prison sentences without notifying the defendants beforehand or offering them the opportunity to withdraw their guilty pleas. The appellate court reversed, holding that when a trial court intends to reject a plea bargain, it must affirmatively offer defendants the opportunity to withdraw their pleas before sentencing.


Holding

Yes. When a trial court concludes that it will reject a plea bargain and impose a sentence different from what was agreed upon, the court must affirmatively offer the defendants an opportunity to withdraw their guilty pleas prior to imposition of sentence. The trial court's promise to afford defendants this opportunity, coupled with the court's power to rescind the plea bargain agreement, creates an enforceable procedural obligation.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must offer a defendant the opportunity to withdraw their guilty plea when the court intends to impose a sentence different from that recommended in a plea b…

[2] A prosecutor's recommendation of probation in a plea bargain is not fulfilled by the mere act of making the recommendation if the court intends to impose a sentence of im…

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Key Quotes

“To say in these circumstances that all which was bargained for and agreed to was fulfilled by the prosecutor's mere act of recommending probation would reduce the bargain to a trap or, at best, a formality.”

Establishes that the State's mere recommendation of probation does not constitute the full bargain when the trial court has promised to allow plea withdrawal if it rejects the bargain.

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Facts & Procedural History

Thomas and Scott were charged with possessing a stolen boat motor and gas tank in violation of section 814.03(2), F.S.1973. They pleaded guilty pursua…

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Opinion of the Court
SMITH, Judge.

SMITH, Judge.

The trial court sentenced appellants to imprisonment for one year and three years respectively on charges that they had in their possession a boat motor and gas tank which they knew or had reason to believe had been stolen. Sec. 814.03(2), F.S.1973. The trial judge imposed the sentences without first advising appellants that he intended not to grant them probation, as the State had recommended on their pleas of guilty pursuant to plea bargaining. The State takes the position that the plea bargain required only that the State recommend probation and that, the prosecutor having done so, the trial court was licensed to imprison appellants without notice and without explicitly affording appellants an opportunity to withdraw their pleas of guilty.

The trial court notified appellants at the time of their pleas, as he was obliged to do by Rule 3.171(c), R.Cr.P., that he was not bound by the plea bargain and that the court “will rescind its approval of such agreement” if the court found that “the ends of justice require a disposition other than that agreed on.” The trial judge promised that, in that event, “the defendants will have the opportunity to withdraw their plea of guilty, without prejudice.”

To say in these circumstances that all which was bargained for and agreed to was fulfilled by the prosecutor’s mere act of recommending probation would reduce the bargain to a trap or, at best, a formality. There could be no purpose in the court intending to agree only that the prosecutor might recommend probation. When the trial judge reached the conclusion that confinement terms were appropriate, appellants should have been affirmatively offered an opportunity to withdraw their pleas prior to imposition of sentence. Taylor v. State, 275 So. 2d 307 (Fla.App. 4th, 1973); Bloom v. State, 290 So. 2d 128 (Fla.App.3d, 1974); Barker v. State, 259 So. 2d 200, 205 (Fla.App.2d, 1972). We note that the trial court entertained and expressed some question concerning his duty in these circumstances and, unfortunately, that the response of appellants’ trial counsel tended to reassure the judge concerning his power to imprison without further notice. It is regrettable that the trial judge was thus permitted to err, but appointed counsel’s misreading of Rule 3.-171(c) does not alter or waive its terms.

Reversed.

MILLS, J., concurs.

BOYER, C. J., dissents.

Dissent
BOYER, Chief Judge

BOYER, Chief Judge

(dissents).

I respectfully dissent. I have no quarrel with the holdings in the cases cited in the majority opinion. Indeed, this Court has carefully chronicled the steps to be observed incident to plea bargaining. (See Kurlin v. State, Fla.App.1st 1974, 302 So. 2d 147; Brown v. State, Fla.App.1st 1974, 303 So. 2d 89) However, neither our own prior opinions, nor those of our sister courts cited in the majority opinion, nor Rule 3.171, RCrP, require reversal in the case sub judice. A reading of the record in this case reveals that on no less than five occasions prior to imposition of sentence the learned trial judge carefully informed appellants and their counsel that the court was not bound and would not be bound by the state’s-recommended sentence. He said clearly and distinctly “I can sentence you to five years, I can put you on probation, but all this is in my discretion, and I am not bound by the plea bargaining of counsel: Do you understand that?” To which each of the defendants responded in the affirmative. Appellants entered their plea fully informed and with their eyes wide open. In my view they should not now be heard to complain.

I am not unmindful of the concluding sentence of Rule 3.171(c), RCrP, which provides that:

“ . . . Should such other factors make ultimate judicial concurrence impossible, any plea of guilty or nolo contendere entered based upon such agreement may thereafter be withdrawn.”

However, in my view there must be some motion, objection or proceeding to trigger application of that provision of the rule. A meticulous examination of the record in this case reveals not one word of objection on the part of appellants nor their counsel nor does the record reveal any motion, oral or written, that appellants’ pleas of guilty be withdrawn. It is therefore apparent that the learned trial judge, who the record reveals proceeded meticulously and cau-tiously, is now being reversed by the majority notwithstanding that his actions complained of (which in my view were not in error) have never been called to his attention nor has he ever been afforded an opportunity to review nor reconsider. I would affirm.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Adams v. State, 328 So. 2d 48 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)
    …eive that a sentencing judge may knowingly receive a plea which is the product of a bargain with the prosecutor and yet declare himself independent of the bargain, so avoiding by finesse the provisions of Rule 3.171 (c), R.Cr.P. See Thomas v. State, 327 So. 2d 63 (Fla.App. 1st, 1976). Sentencing judges who wish to be free of the consequences of bargains and of the Rule should refuse to “have made known to him [*49] the agreement and reasons therefor prior to the acceptance of the plea.” Rule 3.171(c), R.Cr.P…
  • Slay v. State, 347 So. 2d 730 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)
    …tat. (1975), provides: “(5) In no case shall the imposition of sentence be suspended and the defendant thereupon placed on probation unless such defendant be placed under the custody of said [department].” . Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.171(c); Thomas v. State, 327 So. 2d 63 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); and Adams v. State, 328 So. 2d 48 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). [*733] accident or with respect to any injury to person or property shall, at the time of taking such statement, furnish to the person making such statement a true and compl…
  • Kirkman v. State, 559 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)
    …rrently with the earlier sentence, “[t]o say in these circumstances that all which was bargained for and agreed to was fulfilled by the prosecutor’s mere [recommendation] would reduce the bargain to a trap or, at best, a formality.” Thomas v. State, 327 So. 2d 63, 64 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). Before a trial court can impose a sentence other than one contemplated in the plea agreement, the court must explicitly afford the defendant the opportunity to withdraw his plea. Id. Because Kirkman was not afforded that opp…

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