JIRI BEREZOVSKY, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. | 1977-09-15
No. 50198
OVERTON, C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and KARL, JJ., concur., ADKINS, J., concurs in part with an opinion.
350 So. 2d 80 Florida Supreme Court (1977) Positive Treatment
Cited by 17 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

The Florida Supreme Court held that trial judges must consider probation and other sentencing alternatives under Florida law when sentencing for rape, even when a statutory 30-year term exists, and remanded for resentencing where the trial judge failed to exercise discretion in this regard.


Holding

Trial judges must consider sentencing alternatives including probation when sentencing for rape; the 30-year term in Section 775.082(3)(a) is not a mandatory minimum sentence that precludes consideration of alternatives under Section 948.01 and related statutes.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must exercise its judicial discretion in sentencing and consider available sentencing alternatives, such as probation, unless a statute mandates a minimum s…

[2] Statutes providing for sentencing alternatives, like probation, are controlling and may render a statutory prison term non-mandatory in the context of sentencing discreti…

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Key Quotes

“Any court of the state having original jurisdiction of criminal actions, where the defendant in a criminal case has been found guilty . . . except for an offense punishable by death, may either with or without an adjudication of the guilt of the defendant, hear and determine the question of the probation of such defendant.”

Establishes the statutory authorization for probation as a sentencing alternative

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Facts & Procedural History

Berezovsky was tried and convicted of rape and sentenced to thirty years in the state penitentiary. The trial judge appeared to believe that Section 7…

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Opinion of the Court
HATCHETT, Justice.

HATCHETT, Justice.

We have for review an order of the Third District Court of Appeal reported at 335 So. 2d 592 which allegedly conflicts with our decision in Roberts v. State, 335 So. 2d 285 (Fla.1976). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution.

Petitioner was tried and convicted on a charge of rape and was sentenced to thirty years in the state penitentiary. Petitioner urges reversal on the grounds that the trial judge failed to exercise his judicial discretion in sentencing by failing to consider possible sentencing alternatives provided for in Section 948.01, Florida Statutes (1975). Section 948.01, Florida Statutes, provides in pertinent part as follows:

Any court of the state having original jurisdiction of criminal actions, where the defendant in a criminal case has been found guilty . . . except for an offense punishable by death, may . either with or without an adjudication of the guilt of the defendant, hear and determine the question of the probation of such defendant.

It is petitioner’s position that the trial judge determined that Section 775.-082(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1975), requires a mandatory minimum sentence of thirty years and that the sentencing alternatives outlined in Section 948.01, Florida Statutes, are inapplicable. We have carefully reviewed the record and find it sufficient to show that the judge was unclear as to whether probation was possible under the circumstances of the case.

In Roberts v. State, 335 So. 2d 285 (Fla. 1976), we specifically held that probation is an alternative open to the sentencing judge. We there, at 289, said:

It is sufficient to note that Section 959.-115, Florida Statutes, expressly provides for sentencing alternatives applicable to the instant case. This section, along with the general probation statute, is controlling and so the 30-year prison term for rape established by Section 775.082(3)(a), Florida Statutes, is not a “mandatory minimum” sentence in the sense for which the State contends. If on retrial Roberts is found guilty — a subject about which we express no opinion — the trial court should consider the alternatives posed by Section 959.115 as well as the sentencing provisions of Section 775.-082(3)(a) in determining appellant’s future.

(footnotes omitted)

The trial judge, at the time of sentencing in this case, did not have the benefit of the Roberts decision.

The District Court has reviewed the sufficiency of the evidence in this case and found that the jury’s verdict is supported by the record. Having resolved the conflict of decisions which brought the case' to us, we see no reason to provide a full second review of the evidence.

Accordingly, the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal is affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions to remand to the trial court for resentencing consistent with the views expressed herein.

It is so ordered.

OVERTON, C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and KARL, JJ., concur. ADKINS, J., concurs in part with an opinion.

Concurrence
ADKINS, Justice,

ADKINS, Justice,

concurring in part.

I agree that probation was a sentence alternative, but dissent from that portion of the opinion authorizing a piecemeal review by this Court. When conflict appears, it is our duty to examine the entire record and give defendant a “second appeal.”


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Marr v. State, 494 So. 2d 1139 (Fla. 1986)
    …ns contain language similar to that of the requested instruction. See, e.g., Tibbs v. State, 337 So. 2d 788 (Fla.1976); Thomas v. State, 167 So. 2d 309 (Fla.1964); Berezovsky v. State, 335 So. 2d 592 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976), aff'd in part, rev’d in part, 350 So. 2d 80 (Fla.1977). These cases have been discussed in some detail by the district court below, and no useful purpose would be served here by repeating that discussion. What is worthy of repetition is the district court’s observation that none of the cited…
  • Jiri Berezovsky v. State, 351 So. 2d 764 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
    …the judgment and sentence of the Circuit Court for Dade County, Florida, in the above styled cause; and WHEREAS, on review of this court’s judgment, by certiorari, the Supreme Court of Florida, by its opinion and judgment filed September 15, 1977, 350 So. 2d 80 and mandate now lodged in this court, affirmed in part and reversed in part and remanded the cause for resentencing. NOW, THEREFORE, It is Ordered that the mandate of this court heretofore issued in this cause on August 10, 1976 is withdrawn the ju…
  • Henry v. State, 581 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)
    …e that [life] sentence. We therefore believe that the interests of justice require us to vacate the sentence so that the trial judge may consider the matter as one within his discretion.” Id. at 1197 (footnote omitted). See also Berezovsky v. State, 350 So. 2d 80, 80-81 (Fla.1977); Doe v. State, 499 So. 2d 13, 14 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986); Glosson v. Solomon, 490 So. 2d 94, 95 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). On remand, the trial court may, of course, reimpose the life sentence, or a term less than life, under the statutory pro…

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