LELIS ANTONIO MUNOS RIVAS vs STATE OF FLORIDA

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: May 20, 2022
• Docket: 21-1223
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

LELIS ANTONIO MUNOS RIVAS

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D21-1223 LT Case No. 2020-MM-002217-A-EC

STATE OF FLORIDA

Appellee.

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Opinion filed May 20, 2022

Appeal from the County Court for Lake County, Emily Curington, Judge.

Matthew J. Metz, Public Defender, and Nancy Ryan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Kellie A. Nielan, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING OR FOR REHEARING EN BANC

PER CURIAM. Upon consideration of Appellant’s Motion for Rehearing or For

Rehearing En Banc, we deny rehearing en banc, grant rehearing, vacate the

previous opinion, and substitute this opinion in its place. In doing so, we

recognize the State's original position conceding error and agreeing to

remand to correct the scrivener's error contained in the judgment. Thus, we

affirm Appellant's judgment and sentence, and remand for the trial court to

correct the scrivener's error contained in the judgment to reflect that

Appellant was found guilty by a jury rather than having entered a plea. See

Taylor v. State, 242 So. 3d 1203 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018) (remanding for

correction of scrivener's error in judgment which failed to indicate that

appellant was convicted by jury); Hope v. State, 239 So. 3d 737 (Fla. 5th

DCA 2017) (remanding for correction of multiple scrivener's errors in

judgment); Ruff v. State, 216 So. 3d 692 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017) (remanding for

correction of scrivener's error where judgment stated that appellant pled nolo

contendere when in fact he was convicted by a jury).

REHEARING GRANTED; AFFIRMED; REMANDED with Instructions.

WALLIS and HARRIS, JJ., concur. SASSO, J., concurs in part; and dissents in part, with opinion

2 Case No. 5D21-1223 LT Case No. 2020-MM-002217-A-EC

SASSO, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I agree that Rivas’ judgment and sentence should be affirmed.

However, I disagree with the majority’s decision to remand this case for the

correction of a scrivener’s error in the final judgment. Rivas did not preserve

this argument either before this appeal, by objection in the trial court, or while

this appeal was pending, in his motion to correct sentencing error pursuant

to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2). Because Rivas failed to

preserve this issue for our review, I would affirm Rivas’ judgment and

sentence. See generally Carrion v. State, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D2083 (Fla. 2d

DCA Sept. 22, 2021) (holding that appellant failed to preserve, for appellate

review, issue of whether scrivener’s error in trial court’s judgment had to be

corrected to indicate he was found guilty by a jury in connection with

defendant’s second-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and

aggravated child abuse conviction, since he did not object to the error before

the trial court or file a motion to correct a sentencing error while his appeal

was pending). And I recognize that, like in Carrion, the State has conceded

error here. But this Court is not obligated to accept that concession. See

Haar v. State, 295 So. 3d 327, 330 (Fla. 5th DCA 2020) (Eisnaugle, J.,

3 concurring in part) (citing Powell v. State, 223 So. 3d 412, 413 n.1 (Fla. 5th

DCA 2017)). I would affirm in all respects.