Robert R. Miller v. State of Florida

265 So. 3d 457
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedOctober 4, 2018
DocketSC17-1598
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 265 So. 3d 457 (Robert R. Miller v. State of Florida) 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
Robert R. Miller v. State of Florida, 265 So. 3d 457 (Fla. 2018).

Opinions

QUINCE, J.

Robert R. Miller seeks review of the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in Miller v. State , 224 So.3d 851 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017). The district court certified that its decision is in direct conflict with *458the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Torres-Rios v. State , 205 So.3d 883 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.

FACTS

Miller was convicted for the kidnapping with a firearm and aggravated battery of Steven Cooley as well as of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. At sentencing, Miller was determined to be a habitual felony offender ("HFO"). The State argued that the mandatory sentences had to run consecutively under the statute and caselaw. Defense counsel argued that because there was only one victim, the mandatory minimums were not required to run consecutively and requested that they run concurrently. The trial judge agreed with the State that he had no discretion and sentenced Miller to twenty years' incarceration as an HFO on the kidnapping conviction, with a mandatory minimum of ten years, to ten years' incarceration, with a mandatory minimum of ten years as an HFO on the aggravated battery conviction, and to five years' incarceration, with a mandatory minimum of three years as an HFO on the possession conviction. The sentences, including the mandatory minimums, were all consecutive.

Miller appealed his consecutive sentences to the First District, which affirmed. Miller v. State , 151 So.3d 566 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (citing Walton v. State , 106 So.3d 522 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), quashed , 208 So.3d 60 (Fla. 2016) ). On appeal, this Court quashed the First District's decision and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of this Court's decisions in Walton and Williams v. State , 186 So.3d 989 (Fla. 2016). Miller v. State , 42 Fla. L. Weekly S680, 2017 WL 2302346 at *1 (Fla. May 26, 2017).

On remand from this Court for reconsideration pursuant to Walton , the First District determined that this Court "did not explicitly discuss a case factually similar to this one, in which appellant committed two gun-related offenses ... but appellant's crimes involved only one victim who sustained only one physical injury." Miller , 224 So.3d at 852. The district court therefore reversed and remanded for the trial court to consider "whether, in its discretion, it wishes for appellant to serve his minimum mandatory sentences concurrently or consecutively." Id. Miller now seeks this Court's review.

DISCUSSION

Because our caselaw reflects that the crimes stemming from a single criminal episode involving a single victim or a single injury may not be sentenced consecutively, we quash the decision of the First District and remand with instructions to remand to the trial court to enter concurrent sentences.

This Court has long held that, where there is a single victim, "consecutive sentencing of mandatory minimum imprisonment terms for multiple firearm offenses is impermissible if the offenses arose from the same criminal episode." Williams , 186 So.3d at 993 (citing State v. Sousa , 903 So.2d 923, 927 (Fla. 2005) ; Palmer v. State , 438 So.2d 1, 4 (Fla. 1983) ; Perreault v. State , 853 So.2d 604, 606 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) ). Where, during a single criminal episode, there are multiple victims or multiple injuries to a single victim, consecutive sentences are permitted at the discretion of the trial judge. See Sousa , 903 So.2d at 925-26 ; State v. Christian , 692 So.2d 889, 890-91 (Fla. 1997) ; State v. Thomas , 487 So.2d 1043, 1044-45 (Fla. 1986). Where there are not multiple victims or multiple injuries to a single victim and the defendant does not fire the gun, consecutive sentences are impermissible. Christian , 692 So.2d at 890.

*459In 1997, we considered the application of section 775.087(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1993), where a defendant fired multiple gun shots at multiple victims during a single criminal episode, concluding:

As a general rule, for offenses arising from a single episode, stacking is permissible where the violations of the mandatory minimum statutes cause injury to multiple victims, or multiple injuries to one victim. The injuries bifurcate the crimes for stacking purposes. The stacking of firearm mandatory minimum terms thus is permissible where the defendant shoots at multiple victims, and impermissible where the defendant does not fire the weapon.

Christian , 692 So.2d at 890-91. In other words, we determined that consecutive sentences are permissible when a single criminal episode involves either multiple victims or multiple injuries to one victim.

In Williams v. State , 186 So.3d 989 (Fla. 2016), we considered the application of section 775.087(2)(d), Florida Statutes (2008), where a defendant fired shots into the air at four victims in a single episode. As with the defendant in Christian , consecutive sentences were permissible because there were multiple victims and the gun was fired.

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Bluebook (online)
265 So. 3d 457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robert-r-miller-v-state-of-florida-fla-2018.