Hudgins v. Wainwright

530 F. Supp. 944, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17074
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 23, 1981
DocketNo. 81-723-CIV-EPS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 530 F. Supp. 944 (Hudgins v. Wainwright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudgins v. Wainwright, 530 F. Supp. 944, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17074 (S.D. Fla. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SPELLMAN, District Judge.

John Hudgins has filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, attacking a forty-five year sentence imposed by the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Dade County, Florida on January 15, 1979. Sentence was imposed following a determination that the Petitioner had violated the terms of his probation. Petitioner initially pled guilty to the crimes of aggravated battery, unlawful possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted fel'on. At the time, Petitioner was serving three concurrent terms of probation of seven years each pursuant to plea negotiations of September 6, 1978. Following the revocation of his probation, consecutive terms of imprisonment of fifteen (15) years were imposed for each count.

As grounds for relief, Petitioner alleges the following:

1. That a plea of no contest was unlawfully induced in that Petitioner .was “guaranteed” that he would receive concurrent sentences but actually received consecutive terms.
2. The sentence is in violation of the “single transaction rule” in that Petitioner could not lawfully be sentenced separately for Count II, possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense in that said offense was part and parcel of the transaction alleged in Count I, attempted first degree murder (reduced to aggravated battery).

This petition is now being reviewed on rehearing. Initially, in an order dated July 14, 1981, the court ordered dismissal without prejudice because of an unexhausted claim regarding the effective assistance of counsel. However, the Petitioner has informed this Court that he wishes to abandon his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Therefore, the Petitioner has ex[946]*946hausted his state judicial remedies with regard to his remaining claims and the court may proceed to the merits.

Petitioner’s first allegation is that the state failed to uphold its plea bargain agreement when he was sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment following the revocation of his probation. He contends that his plea of nolo contendere was induced by a guarantee of concurrent sentences.

Review of the transcript of the plea proceedings held on September 6, 1978, indicates that pursuant to the negotiations, the Petitioner was sentenced to concurrent terms of probation. However, on January 15, 1979, he was found guilty of violating the terms of his probation and the consecutive prison terms were imposed. The transcript of the plea hearing indicates that the trial court judge informed the Petitioner that he would be subject to additional prison time if he violated the terms of his probation. (R. 35). Furthermore, Fla.Stat. § 948.06 provides that following the revocation of probation the court may “impose any sentence which it might have originally imposed before placing the probationer on probation.” The Fifth Circuit has validated a similar sentence imposed by a state judge after the defendant violated his bargained-for probation term in Williams v. Wainwright, 650 F.2d 58 (5th Cir. 1981). Therefore, Petitioner’s claim is clearly without merit.

Petitioner’s second claim presents a substantially more difficult question. He claims that because the elements of the crime of possession of a firearm while committing a felony are part of the same elements necessary to establish aggravated battery, that he should not have been sentenced for both. Fla.Stat. § 784.045 defines aggravated battery as follows:

(1) A person commits aggravated battery who, in committing battery:
(a) Intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement; or
(b) Uses a deadly weapon.

The use or display of a firearm during the commission of a felony is set forth in Fla. Stat. § 790.07(2):

Whoever, while committing or attempting to commit any felony or while under indictment, displays, uses, threatens, or attempts to use any firearm or carries a concealed firearm is guilty of a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s.775.082, s.775.083, and s.775.084.

The Petitioner contends that under the state “single transaction rule” he should have been separately sentenced for Count II of the information.

In Johnson v. State, 366 So.2d 418 (Fla. 1978), the Florida Supreme Court applied the “single transaction rule” to find that a defendant should not have been convicted for displaying a firearm and for robbery. The court held that the display of the firearm itself constituted the necessary element of force or of putting the victim in fear to prove the crime of robbery. The court relied on its earlier decision in Cone v. State, 285 So.2d 12 (Fla.1973) to find that the acts of display or use of a firearm during the commission of a robbery and the crime of robbery were facets of the same transaction which could not support separate sentences.

The Florida Supreme Court found that two offenses were not part of the same transaction where they were temporally distinct. State v. Heisterman, 343 So.2d 1272 (Fla.1977). In that case, the court found that the act of assault with intent to commit murder was completed before the crime of shooting a gun into an occupied dwelling took place. Therefore, the court found that the crimes were separate and did not violate state law.

Although the Petitioner in the instant case, has raised his claim under state and not federal constitutional law, the federal constitutional standard to establish double jeopardy in violation of the Fifth Amendment is similar to the state’s “single transaction rule” so as to permit this Court to consider the Petitioner’s claim as one involving double jeopardy. The prohibition against double jeopardy as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, [947]*947protects against multiple punishment for the same offense. United States v. Dinitz, 424 U.S. 600, 96 S.Ct. 1075, 47 L.Ed.2d 267 (1976); North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969); Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969). The prohibition against double jeopardy applies where a defendant is charged twice for the same offense. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). The test for determining when such a violation of the right against double jeopardy occurs was set forth by the Fifth Circuit in

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Bluebook (online)
530 F. Supp. 944, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17074, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudgins-v-wainwright-flsd-1981.