Harvard v. State

643 So. 2d 712, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 10012, 1994 WL 568457
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 19, 1994
DocketNo. 94-193
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 643 So. 2d 712 (Harvard v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harvard v. State, 643 So. 2d 712, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 10012, 1994 WL 568457 (Fla. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

BARKDULL, Judge.

Appellant seeks review of a summary denial of a rule 3.800 motion. For the following reasons we affirm.

[713]*713Defendant was convicted on three counts of grand theft and placed on community control. Defendant’s recommended guideline sentence was two and one-half to three and one-half years. The trial court, in placing defendant on community control, deviated downward one cell from the recommended guideline sentence. Defendant violated his community control and on October 7, 1986, was ordered to serve five years in prison on each of the three grand theft counts. This sentence constituted a two cell upward departure from the recommended guideline sentence. The trial court set forth, in writing, five reasons for imposing the departure sentence; 1) that the court had deviated downward when placing defendant on community control; 2) that defendant was found to have been in a place where drugs were sold; 3) that defendant was found to have been in possession of a weapon; 4) that defendant was found to have used cocaine; and, 5) that defendant had failed to report to his community control officer. The trial court further stated that it had not taken into consideration defendant’s outstanding murder charge in sentencing defendant for the community control violations. On October 9, 1986, defendant was convicted by a jury of second degree murder with a knife. The trial court scored defendant on a number one score sheet. Defendant was scored with the murder conviction as the primary offense and the three grand thefts as prior offenses. The sentence imposed was within the recommended range as set forth by the number one score sheet.

Defendant argues that the trial court improperly sentenced him for community control violations where he was awaiting trial for second degree murder. Defendant states that the trial court should have deferred sentencing in the community control cases until after he was convicted on the murder charge and then sentenced him, using the community control score sheet, in the community control cases and the murder case simultaneously. Defendant justifies this argument by stating that the murder case was pending in the trial court when he was sentenced for violation of community control and that the trial court had an obligation to simultaneously sentence him on all matters pending before the court.

Defendant’s murder charge does not meet the definition of “pending” for purposes of simultaneous sentencing. “[A]n offense should not be considered as “pending” before the trial court for sentencing unless a verdict of guilt or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere has been obtained.” Clark v. State, 572 So.2d 1387, 1392-93 (Fla.1991). Defendant was not tried or found guilty on the murder count until after sentencing on the community control violations. The trial court did not err in not simultaneously sentencing defendant for the community control violations and the murder count.

Assuming, which we don’t, that defendant’s murder count was “pending,” failure to simultaneously sentence defendant in the community control cases and the murder case was not error. The trial court was not required to automatically defer, sentencing in the community control cases until the conclusion of defendant’s murder case. Defendant had the burden of requesting simultaneous sentencing, and defendant fails to point to any such request. “The burden falls on the defendant to assert a desire for simultaneous sentencing.... This [defendant] failed to do. Accordingly, the issue is now proeedurally barred.” Id., at 1391. The trial court did not err in not simultaneously sentencing defendant for the community control violations and the murder count where defendant failed to make the required request for simultaneous sentencing.

Defendant argues that the trial court should have made use of the same score sheet when sentencing him in the community control cases and the murder case. Defendant states that had the trial court used the community control score sheet his point totals would have been lower, thus he would have received a shorter recommended sentence than the actual sentence imposed.

Defendant’s argument relies upon his faulty interpretation of the law controlling “pending” cases. As we have previously demonstrated, defendant’s murder case was not “pending” for sentencing at the time he was sentenced for violation of community control. Since the trial court was not obliged [714]*714to sentence defendant simultaneously in the community control and murder cases, the trial court properly utilized separate score sheets in each case. Clark, 572 So.2d 1387.

Defendant argues that the trial court’s reasons for departing from the sentencing guidelines, in the community control cases, were invalid reasons for imposing a departure sentence, thus his sentence is an illegal departure sentence. Further, defendant argues that invalid reasons for departure, obvious on the face of the record, constitute fundamental error which may be raised at any time.

In Early v. State, 516 So.2d 24 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987), this court, recognizing that there was conflict between the districts, held that a defendant may raise, for the first time by rule 3.800 motion, the propriety of the trial court’s reasons for imposing a departure sentence. See also Jones v. State, 599 So.2d 769 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992); Hansbrough v. State, 523 So.2d 1264 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988). But see Brintley v. State, 596 So.2d 1270 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Trimble v. State, 511 So.2d 403 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987). Subsequent to Early the Florida Supreme Court handed down decisions in McCuiston v. State, 534 So.2d 1144 (Fla.1988) and Cusic v. State, 534 So.2d 1147 (Fla.1988). For the following reasons we hold that McCuiston and Cusic have, although not expressly stating so, overruled Early.

In McCuiston and Cusic the court addressed the following issue: Whether a sentence which was a departure from the recommended sentencing guidelines may be collaterally attacked, by motion for post conviction 1 relief, where the reasons given for the departure were valid at the time the sentence was imposed, but have subsequently been held to be invalid.

In both McCuiston and Cusic the court found that for subsequent changes in deci-sional law to be applied retroactively, and thus be cognizable on motion for post conviction relief, the subsequent change must be a fundamental, constitutional change and not merely an evolutionary refinement in the law. The McCuiston court, in explaining the principles to be applied to changes in decisional law, stated that:

In Witt v. State, 387 So.2d 922 (Fla.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1067, 101 S.Ct. 796, 66 L.Ed.2d 612 (1980), this Court held that to be cognizable under a motion for post conviction relief, a change in decisional law must be a fundamental and constitutional change. We observed that most major constitutional changes in the law are either (1) those which place beyond the authority of the state the power to regulate certain conduct or to impose certain penalties, or (2) those changes which meet the three-prong test for retroactivity set forth in Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 297, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 1970, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967).2

We then stated:

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643 So. 2d 712, 1994 Fla. App. LEXIS 10012, 1994 WL 568457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harvard-v-state-fladistctapp-1994.