JUDGE DENNIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Judge Dennis was convicted by jury of burglary and petit theft and sentenced to ten years as a habitual felony offender and violent career criminal. On appeal, Dennis challenged his sentence as violating Apprendi v. New Jersey, arguing the jury should have determined his predicate convictions, but the court affirmed, holding the recidivism exception to Apprendi applied.
The court held that Apprendi is inapplicable because the findings required under the habitual felony offender and violent career criminal statutes fall within Apprendi's recidivism exception. Enhancement for these status findings neither alters the maximum penalty for the crime committed nor creates a separate offense; rather, the statutes operate solely to limit the sentencing court's discretion within an already available range.
[1] Facts that increase a criminal penalty beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt, unless they fall under the recidivis…
[2] Prior convictions are an exception to the rule that facts increasing a criminal penalty must be submitted to a jury.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“[ojther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Establishes the general Apprendi rule that Dennis relied upon in his appeal.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJudge Dennis was convicted by jury of burglary and petit theft. He was sentenced to ten years in prison with a ten-year minimum based on his habitual …
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POLEN, J.
Judge Dennis timely appeals after a jury convicted him of burglary and petit theft. He was sentenced to ten years in prison as an habitual felony offender and violent career criminal, with a ten-year minimum for the violent career criminal status. While we affirm on all issues raised, we write only to discuss Dennis’ contention that his sentence was illegal under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Apprendi holds that “[ojther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (emphasis supplied). Dennis maintains that under Ap-prendi, the court should have had the jury determine that he had the requisite predicate convictions necessary to impose the habitual felony offender and violent career criminal sentence.
We recently rejected a similar claim in Gordon v. State, No. 4D00-1607, — So. 2d -, 2001 WL 418754 (Fla. 4th DCA Apr.25, 2001), wherein we held that the findings required under the habitual felony offender statute fell within Apprendi’s “recidivism” exception. As in Gordon, the facts justifying Dennis’ sentence enhancement were not elements of his offense; rather, enhancement was authorized by his habitual felony offender and violent career criminal status under sections 775.084(4) and 775.084(4)(c), Florida Statutes (1999). Such statutes neither alter the maximum penalty for the crime committed nor create a separate offense; they operate “solely to limit the sentencing court’s discretion in selecting a penalty within the range already available to it without the special finding of visible possession of a firearm.” Kijewski v. State, 773 So. 2d 124, 125 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)(discussing Prison Releasee Reoffender statute). Because Apprendi is inapplicable to the case at bar, we affirm.
AFFIRMED.
WARNER, C.J., and TAYLOR, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (U.S. 2000)
- Kijewski v. State, 773 So. 2d 124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)