DONALD RAY WELLS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1978-01-24
No. 76-2161
Before HAVERFIELD, C. J., and PEARSON and HENDRY, JJ.
354 So. 2d 1221 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant was found guilty by a jury of burglary and grand larceny.

He seeks reversal of his convictions on the grounds (1) that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress confessions without an unequivocal and explicit finding of voluntariness, and (2) that the court erred in sentencing the defendant to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor. We have carefully reviewed the record on appeal and considered the briefs and arguments of counsel and have concluded that no reversible error has been demonstrated as to the conviction. Wilson v. State, 304 So. 2d 119 (Fla.1974).

As to the appellant’s contention that the court erred in sentencing the defendant to fifteen years imprisonment at hard labor we hold that the court erred in specifying hard labor in "the sentence. There is no statutory authority for sentencing a convicted person to hard labor. Therefore the words hard labor are stricken from the sentence and it is affirmed as amended. Speller v. State, 305 So. 2d 231 (Fla.2d DCA 1974).

Affirmed.

Dissent
PEARSON, Judge

PEARSON, Judge

(dissenting).

I would reverse because, in my view, reversible error appears upon the failure of the trial judge to follow the requirements which are laid out in McDole v. State, 283 So. 2d 553 (Fla.1973), for a conviction based upon a confession.


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Cited By

  • Gamble v. State, 355 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
    …(Fla.1977); Johnson v. State, 349 So. 2d 1190 (Fla.1977), and that it was incorrect for the sentence to provide for hard labor, citing Smith v. State, 354 So. 2d 477 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978), Case No. 77-72, opinion filed January 31, 1978; Wells v. State, 354 So. 2d 1221 (Fla.1978). [See also: Speller v. State, 305 So. 2d 231, 232 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974).] Accordingly, the sentences thus imposed are hereby amended by striking therefrom the provision excluding eligibility for parole for three years and the provision that…

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