Nettles v. State

819 So. 2d 243, 2002 WL 1307481
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided June 17, 2002·No. 1D01-3441·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

819 So.2d 243 (2002)

Marvin NETTLES, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 1D01-3441.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

June 17, 2002.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Karen M. Holland, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

KAHN, J.

The question in this case is whether a defendant may, pursuant to a negotiated plea, be sentenced pursuant to both the Criminal Punishment Code (CPC), sections 921.002 through 921.0027, Florida Statutes (2000), and also the Prison Releasee Reoffender Punishment Act (PRRPA), section 775.082(9), Florida Statutes (2000). We hold that such a sentence is not necessarily illegal, although the present sentence must be modified to reflect that the prison releasee reoffender portion of the sentence may not exceed the time specified by section 775.082(9)(a)3.d., Florida Statutes (2000). We certify conflict with two other district courts of appeal.

On July 30, 2001, appellant entered a plea to two counts of attempted lewd and lascivious conduct, a third-degree felony, in *244 exchange for concurrent PRRPA and CPC sentences of 66.4 months. Appellant does not dispute that he qualifies as a prison releasee reoffender. During the plea colloquy, the judge adequately advised defendant that the PRRPA designation would cause him to serve the entire sentence day-for-day. See § 775.082(9)(b), Fla. Stat. (2000). Nevertheless, appellant subsequently filed a Rule 3.800(b)(2) motion to correct sentencing error, alleging that his sentence was illegal pursuant to State v. Wilson, 793 So.2d 1003 (Fla. 2nd DCA 2001), and Irons v. State, 791 So.2d 1221 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). The trial court denied the motions:

The Defendant makes one claim of sentencing error. He alleges that the trial court erred in sentencing the Defendant under both the Prison Releasee Reoffender Punishment Act (PRRPA) and the Criminal Punishment Code (CPC) sentencing guidelines. The Defendant cites two very recent decisions from the Second and Fifth District Courts of Appeal in support of his instant motion. This Court finds that the Defendant's argument is without merit.

The CPC provides a method for calculating the "lowest permissible sentence." § 921.0024(2), Fla. Stat. (2000). "The lowest permissible sentence is the minimum sentence that may be imposed by the trial court, absent a valid reason for departure." Id. The CPC scoresheet in the record before us reflects a lowest permissible sentence of 66.4 months. Under the PRRPA, a defendant convicted of a third-degree felony, as was appellant in this case, must serve a term of imprisonment of five years. See § 775.082(9)(a)3.d., Fla. Stat. (2000). Also, the PRRPA defendant must serve "100 percent of the court-imposed sentence." § 775.082(9)(b), Fla. Stat. (2001). This sentence, to which defendant agreed, is obviously greater than the five years that would be mandatory under the PRRPA. Accordingly, appellant, relying upon the two cases mentioned above, argues that his sentence is illegal and must be vacated in favor of the five years provided by the PRRPA. We disagree.

In Wilson, the court noted "apparent conflict" within the various subsections of section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997).[*]Wilson, 793 So.2d at 1004. In particular, the court noted two provisions that it could not reconcile. Section 775.082(8)(a)2., Florida Statutes (1997), provided that where the state attorney establishes that a defendant is "a prison releasee reoffender as defined in this section, such defendant is not eligible for sentencing under the sentencing guidelines and must be sentenced [as a prison releasee reoffender]." Wilson, 793 So.2d at 1005. As noted by the Wilson court, however, the statute went on at section 775.082(8)(c) to state:

Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a court from imposing a greater sentence of incarceration as authorized by law pursuant to s. 775.084, or any other provision of law.

Wilson, 793 So.2d at 1005. The court then concluded that although the PRRPA expresses a clear legislative intent that defendants be punished to the fullest extent of the law and allows a greater sentence of incarceration if authorized by any other provision of law, the statute's preclusion of a guideline sentence for a prison releasee reoffender means that such defendants may not be sentenced under the CPC if *245 the CPC sentence exceeds those terms of imprisonment set out in the PRRPA. See id.

The Wilson court engaged in statutory construction to support its conclusion, finding first that the general provision in the PRRPA allowing a greater sentence pursuant to "`any other provision of law'" is trumped by the particular provision stating that prison releasee reoffender defendants are "`not eligible for sentencing under the sentencing guidelines.'" Id. at 1005-06. Next, the court applied the principle of ejusdem generis to conclude that "any other provision of law" means only other penalty enhancement statutes similar to the habitual offender statute, section 775.084, Florida Statutes, because that particular statute was mentioned specifically in section 775.082(8)(c), Florida Statues (1997). See id. at 1006.

The Fifth District followed Wilson in Irons v. State. See Irons, 791 So.2d at 1224. Both the Second and Fifth Districts recognized that their respective constructions of the PRRPA may well have conflicted with legislative intent. See Wilson, 793 So.2d at 1006 ("We recognize that it is possible the legislature intended that a defendant whose guidelines sentence range is greater than the mandatory sentence under section 775.082(8) be sentenced under both the PRRPA and the sentencing guidelines."); Irons, 791 So.2d at 1224 ("[W]e also think the Legislature probably did not intend this result. No doubt in writing this statute it contemplated that the mandatory prison releasee reoffender sentences would exceed the guidelines sentences.").

We read the subsections at issue in pari materia, and in light of the legislative direction that offenders previously released from prison "be punished to the fullest extent of the law and as provided in this subsection ...." § 775.082(9)(d)1., Fla. Stat. (2000). Accordingly, once a defendant is properly designated as a prison releasee reoffender, the defendant would not be barred from a CPC sentence greater than the mandatory sentence as specified in the PRRPA.

We specifically note that the directive against guideline sentencing states that a defendant who is a prison releasee reoffender "is not eligible for sentencing under the sentencing guidelines ...." § 775.082(9)(a)3., Fla. Stat. (2000) (emphasis added). We believe the Legislature's use of the word "eligible" supports our construction. The selection of such an adjective as a modifier in the legislative limitation of sentencing options refutes any suggestion that the Legislature intended to prohibit a sentence greater than that provided by the PRRPA. The word "eligible" connotes that some benefit would be bestowed upon the defendant by a guidelines sentence. This is consistent with the dictionary definition of "eligible": "1. Qualified, as for an office, position. 2. Desirable and worthy of choice...." American Heritage Dictionary, 446 (2d College Ed.1985). A popular unabridged dictionary makes the contextual meaning of the wor

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Nettles v. State, 819 So. 2d 243, 2002 WL 1307481 (Fla. Ct. App. 2002).

819 So. 2d 243 (Nettles v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Reeves v. State
957 So. 2d 625 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Nettles v. State
850 So. 2d 487 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2003)