Knarich v. State

866 So. 2d 165, 2004 WL 314515
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 20, 2004
Docket2D01-1679
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 866 So. 2d 165 (Knarich 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
Knarich v. State, 866 So. 2d 165, 2004 WL 314515 (Fla. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

866 So.2d 165 (2004)

Curtis Harold KNARICH, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 2D01-1679.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

February 20, 2004.

*166 James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Richard P. Albertine Jr., Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Ronald Napolitano, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

SILBERMAN, Judge.

Curtis Knarich appeals his sentence for the lewd and lascivious act of handling and fondling a child under sixteen years of age. Because of errors in scoring Knarich's prior record, and because the trial judge improperly commented on Knarich's motion to disqualify the judge, we reverse and remand for resentencing before a different trial judge.

The State charged Knarich with handling and fondling a child under the age of sixteen years, a second-degree felony in violation of section 800.04, Florida Statutes (1997), which is entitled, "Lewd, lascivious, or indecent assault or act upon or in presence of child." The amended information alleged that Knarich committed this offense "by placing the hand of Curtis Harold Knarich on and rubbing the buttocks of the said [W.C.], said act being done in a lewd, lascivious and indecent manner, but without committing the crime of sexual battery" and alleged that the offense took place between July 5 and August 11, 1997. After a jury trial, Knarich was convicted. At the original sentencing hearing of February 12, 1999, the trial court declared Knarich to be a sexual predator and imposed a sentence of forty years in prison, with the last fifteen years to be suspended and Knarich to be placed on fifteen years of sex offender probation.

Knarich appealed, and this court affirmed his judgment but reversed and remanded for resentencing. Knarich v. State, 766 So.2d 404 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000). This court stated that to properly score Knarich's prior record on remand, the trial court must compare the elements of Knarich's prior military convictions with the elements of comparable Florida offenses. Id. at 405.

The trial court held a resentencing hearing on December 1, 2000, and a continued *167 resentencing hearing on March 9, 2001. The scoresheet on resentencing reflected 274.6 points for prior record based on twenty-five prior military offenses. The scoresheet also included forty points for victim injury based on sexual contact. The trial court again designated Knarich a sexual predator and imposed a sentence of thirty-five years in prison, with the last ten years suspended and Knarich to be placed on ten years of sex offender probation. Knarich appealed, and while this appeal was pending, he filed a motion and amended motion to correct sentencing error pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2). Knarich also filed a motion to disqualify the trial judge. The trial judge heard the amended motion and, after denying the motion to disqualify, denied the amended motion to correct sentencing error. On appeal, Knarich contends that the trial judge erred in responding to the allegations of Knarich's motion to disqualify, that Knarich's prior military convictions were improperly scored as prior record, and that victim injury points were improperly scored.

MOTION TO DISQUALIFY TRIAL JUDGE

At the continued resentencing hearing on March 9, 2001, Knarich was represented by counsel. Knarich had filed a pro se motion to disqualify the trial judge, and Knarich's counsel elected not to join in the motion. The trial judge allowed Knarich to act as co-counsel so that he could argue his motion to disqualify. Ultimately, the trial judge denied Knarich's motion as legally insufficient.

On September 17, 2002, the same judge heard Knarich's amended motion to correct sentencing error pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2). At the hearing Knarich submitted another pro se motion to disqualify the trial judge based on his purported "extrajudicial political/personal relationship" with Knarich's mother, Roberta Knarich. Again, counsel did not join in the motion, and the judge allowed Knarich to act as co-counsel for that particular motion.

The trial judge then stated his understanding that because it was a successive motion to disqualify, under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.160(g), he was permitted to comment on the allegations in the motion. He proceeded to explain that he had informed the parties at trial in 1999 that he previously had a political acquaintance with Knarich's mother, but he had absolutely no problem presiding over the matter. At the same time, he asked if either party wanted him to step aside, and neither counsel nor Knarich asked the judge to recuse himself from the case. The State refers to the foregoing comments and argues that they were not comments on the motion but merely comments on the status of the record, citing Shuler v. Green Mountain Ventures, Inc., 791 So.2d 1213, 1215 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). We agree. However, the trial judge also explained at length the relationship with Knarich's mother and why he was not biased. The trial judge then denied the motion to disqualify on the ground that he had no bias toward Knarich or the State as a result of his relationship with Knarich's mother; the judge did not rule that the motion was legally insufficient.

Pursuant to rule 2.160, in ruling on a motion to disqualify, the trial judge "shall determine only the legal sufficiency of the motion and shall not pass on the truth of the facts alleged." Cave v. State, 660 So.2d 705, 708 (Fla.1995). Here, the trial judge stated his belief that he could comment on the allegations because this was a successive motion by the same party against the same judge. However, in J & J Industries, Inc. v. Carpet Showcase of *168 Tampa Bay, Inc. 723 So.2d 281, 283 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998), this court informed the same trial judge that he had misinterpreted rule 2.160(g) and explained:

The freedom granted to trial judges to "pass on the truth" of the allegations is confined by this subdivision to successor judges, and does not apply to mere successive motions as the unfortunately drafted title to the subdivision might suggest. Here, the trial judge, not a successor judge for purposes of rule 2.160, was forbidden to pass on the truthfulness of the facts alleged.

Again, as in J & J Industries, the trial judge's "[a]ttempts to refute the charges of partiality exceed the scope of inquiry and alone establish grounds for disqualification." Id.

Although the State contends on appeal that the trial judge could have ruled the motion untimely and legally insufficient, the trial judge did not do so, and even if he had, disqualification would still be required. In Turner v. State, 598 So.2d 186 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), the trial court considered a motion to disqualify on the merits, and the First District pointed out that even if the trial court had decided the motion was legally insufficient, "his remarks would still have made his disqualification necessary." Id. at 187. Because the trial judge's remarks here made his disqualification necessary, we reverse the order denying the motion to disqualify. Based on our disposition of the scoresheet issues, as discussed below, proceedings on remand shall be before a different trial judge.

MILITARY CONVICTIONS AS PRIOR RECORD

Knarich's sentencing guidelines scoresheet reflects that he received 274.6 points for prior record based on twenty-five prior military offenses that were scored as analogous Florida offenses.

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Bluebook (online)
866 So. 2d 165, 2004 WL 314515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knarich-v-state-fladistctapp-2004.