MacK v. State

823 So. 2d 746, 2002 WL 1430378
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 3, 2002
DocketSC00-2355
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 823 So. 2d 746 (MacK v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MacK v. State, 823 So. 2d 746, 2002 WL 1430378 (Fla. 2002).

Opinion

823 So.2d 746 (2002)

Alvin Cooper MACK, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. SC00-2355.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 3, 2002.

*747 Alvin Copper Mack, South Bay, FL, Petitioner, pro se.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Alfred Washington, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, FL, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

We have for review Mack v. State, 766 So.2d 1254 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), which expressly and directly conflicts with the opinion in Jefferson v. State, 677 So.2d 29 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.

In 1990 Mack pled guilty to a number of counts of burglary and grand theft which had been charged in several different cases. On count II of circuit court case number 90-2582, Mack pled guilty to grand theft and was sentenced as a habitual felony offender to a three and one-half year true split sentence. After serving two years in prison, the remaining one and one-half years would be suspended, and he would be placed on probation.[1]

In case numbers 90-657 and 90-661, Mack pled guilty to two counts of burglary and two counts of grand theft. In each of these two cases, imposition of sentence was withheld, and Mack was placed on one and one-half years' probation. These probationary terms were to run concurrently with the probationary portion of his split sentence in case number 90-2582.

Mack was released from prison in 1995 and began serving his concurrent one and one-half year probationary terms. In 1996 Mack was arrested for violating probation, but the court dismissed the violation and modified Mack's probation, extending it four years. Mack did not appeal the extension of his probation in any of the cases.[2]

In 1998 Mack was arrested again for violating probation. This time he was adjudicated guilty and his probation was revoked in all three cases. In case number *748 90-657, Mack was sentenced to ten years as a habitual felony offender. In case number 90-661, Mack was sentenced to ten years as a habitual felony offender to run consecutively to case number 90-657. As to the third case (case number 90-2582), Mack was sentenced to five years to run concurrently with case number 90-657.

In 2000 the trial court denied Mack's motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of the motion as to all of Mack's sentences except the one imposed on count II in case number 90-2582. As to that sentence, the district court agreed with Mack that under Poore v. State, 531 So.2d 161 (Fla.1988),[3] "when he was resentenced to five years incarceration, a sentence that exceeded the three and one-half years originally imposed, he was sentenced a second time for the same offense and for a longer time than originally imposed in violation of double jeopardy principles." Mack v. State, 766 So.2d 1254, 1255 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). The court also held that under State v. Mancino, 714 So.2d 429 (Fla.1998), Mack's sentence was an illegal sentence that was apparent on the face of the record and subject to correction on a rule 3.800(a) motion. Id. Accordingly, the district court reversed the trial court's denial of Mack's 3.800(a) motion as to count II of case number 90-2582 and remanded for resentencing to the unserved portion of the original true split sentence. Id.

In holding that Mack's sentence was illegal, the Fifth District expressly declined to follow the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in Jefferson v. State, 677 So.2d 29 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). In Jefferson, the defendant was convicted of possession of cocaine and carrying a concealed firearm and was originally sentenced to a true split sentence of eighteen months, with the entire term suspended and probation imposed in lieu thereof. Id. at 30. Upon revocation of Jefferson's probation, he was resentenced to thirty months in prison. Id. On appeal from the denial of his rule 3.800(a) motion, the First District held that it was unnecessary to consider whether Jefferson had a viable claim pursuant to Poore v. State, 531 So.2d 161 (Fla.1988), because the thirty-month sentence did not exceed the statutory maximum for Jefferson's offenses. Id. Relying upon this Court's decision in Davis v. State, 661 So.2d 1193 (Fla.1995), the district court held that because the sentence did not exceed the statutory maximum, it was not an illegal sentence, notwithstanding the fact that it exceeded his original eighteen-month sentence. Id.

In several decisions issued after the First District's decision in Jefferson, this Court has either implicitly or explicitly receded from the holding in Davis to the extent that it can be read to mandate that only those sentences that facially exceed the statutory maximum may be challenged as illegal. See Hopping v. State, 708 So.2d 263 (Fla.1998) (implicitly rejecting notion that only those sentences which exceed the statutory maximum can be challenged as illegal under rule 3.800(a)); State v. Mancino, 714 So.2d 429 (Fla.1998) (expressly rejecting same); see also Carter v. State, 786 So.2d 1173 (Fla.2001) (tracking the evolution of this Court's definition of an *749 illegal sentence and recognizing the Court's clarification of this definition by receding from Davis). Hopping is controlling in the instant case. There, the Court held that a sentence which had been unconstitutionally enhanced in violation of the double jeopardy clause, but that did not exceed the statutory maximum, constituted an illegal sentence. 708 So.2d at 264-65. Here, Mack alleges, and the district court agrees, that his sentence has been unconstitutionally enhanced. Accordingly, under Hopping, even though Mack's sentence did not exceed the statutory maximum, it was an illegal sentence, apparent on the face of the record, and subject to correction on a rule 3.800(a) motion.[4]

Mack next argues that the ten-year habitual felony offender sentences imposed after revocation of his probation in case numbers 90-657 and 90-661 are also illegal sentences subject to correction under rule 3.800(a). Although this issue is outside the scope of the conflict in this case, we have jurisdiction to address it. See Allstate Ins. Co. v. Rudnick, 761 So.2d 289, 291 (Fla. 2000) (stating that once review is granted as to one issue, the Court may, in its discretion, address other issues properly raised and argued before it).

Mack relies on this Court's decision in King v. State, 681 So.2d 1136 (Fla.1996), in arguing that the habitual offender sentences he received upon the revocation of his probation in case numbers 90-657 and 90-661 are illegal. The issue presented in King was "whether a trial judge, upon revocation of probation, can lawfully impose an habitual felony offender sentence, despite having declined to impose such a sentence at the original sentencing." Id. at 1138. The defendant in King was convicted of burglary of a dwelling and robbery, and at sentencing, the trial court found the defendant qualified as a habitual felony offender pursuant to section 775.084, Florida Statutes (1989). Id. at 1137. However, the court exercised its discretion not to impose a habitual felony offender sentence and instead sentenced the defendant to a guidelines period of ten years' incarceration to be followed by two years' probation. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
823 So. 2d 746, 2002 WL 1430378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mack-v-state-fla-2002.