Charles Flaherty v. State of Florida

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: April 15, 2026
• Docket: 4D2024-2672
• Status: Published

Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

CHARLES FLAHERTY, Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 4D2024-2672

[April 15, 2026]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; John D. Fry, Judge; L.T. Case No. 062023CF001095A88810.

Harry Dohn Williams, Jr., Special Public Defender, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Zi Jin Peter Chan, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Charles Flaherty appeals his convictions and sentences. With respect to his convictions, he raises issues involving evidentiary rulings, the trial court’s denials of his pre-trial motions for dismissal based on Stand Your Ground immunity and speedy trial rules, and the court’s purported failure to conduct a Faretta 1 hearing. We affirm on those grounds. Flaherty also appeals the sentences imposed on two counts of attempted second-degree murder, arguing that they were vindictive and that the sentences exceeded the statutory maximum based on improper reclassification. We affirm the sentences on direct appeal but without prejudice to Flaherty raising an improper reclassification claim in an appropriate post-conviction motion.

Affirmed without prejudice.

GROSS, CIKLIN and LOTT, JJ., concur.

1 Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). * * *

Not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing.