State v. Johnson

122 So. 3d 856, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 449, 2013 WL 3214599, 2013 Fla. LEXIS 1341
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 27, 2013
DocketNo. SC09-1570
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 122 So. 3d 856 (State v. Johnson) 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
State v. Johnson, 122 So. 3d 856, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 449, 2013 WL 3214599, 2013 Fla. LEXIS 1341 (Fla. 2013).

Opinion

CANADY, J.

In this case, we consider whether the definition of the term “statutory maximum” announced in Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), applies to final criminal sentences imposed before the decision in Blakely issued. In Johnson v. State, 18 So.3d 623, 625 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009), the First District Court of Appeal held that Blakely's new definition applies retroactively to cases on collateral review in which sentences were imposed after the Supreme Court’s decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), was issued. The First District’s holding expressly and directly conflicts with the decision in Thomas v. State, 914 So.2d 27, 28 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005). Accordingly, we have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the reasons explained below, we hold that Blakely does not apply retroactively to final sentences or resentences. Thus, the decision affords no pathway to postconviction relief regarding any sentence that was final before Blakely issued.

I. BACKGROUND

After trial by jury, Sirron Johnson was convicted for the 1995 armed kidnapping, armed sexual battery, and armed robbery of victim C.R. Johnson v. State, 717 So.2d 1057, 1059 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). “[T]he permitted sentencing range on his guidelines scoresheet was 9.6 to 16 years’ imprisonment,” but the trial court sentenced him to concurrent, upward departure sentences of forty-eight years on each count. Johnson, 18 So.3d at 624. His sentence became final in October 2000, after Ap-prendi issued in June 2000. See Johnson v. State, 761 So.2d 318 (Fla.) (approving district court decision), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 889, 121 S.Ct. 212, 148 L.Ed.2d 149 (2000). Then, in December 2000, Johnson filed a postconviction motion to correct illegal sentence, alleging that his departure sentence exceeded the statutory maximum. The trial court granted the motion and, two years before Blakely issued, resen-tenced Johnson to concurrent terms of forty years on two counts and reimposed the forty-eight year sentence for the armed robbery. See Johnson, 18 So.3d at 624. In June 2007, Johnson filed a motion alleging that the upward departure sentences imposed at his June 2002 resentencing exceeded the statutory maximum as defined by Apprendi and Blakely. The trial court denied the motion, and Johnson appealed.

On review, the First District relied on its prior decisions in Isaac v. State, 911 So.2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), review dismissed, 66 So.3d 912 (2011), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1539, 182 [858]*858L.Ed.2d 161 (2012), and Monnar v. State, 984 So.2d 619 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), to hold that Blakely applied to Johnson’s pre-Blakely resentencing. Johnson, 18 So.3d at 624-25. In Isaac, the district court reasoned that Blakely merely “clarified” Apprendi; thus, Blakely applied to Isaac’s de novo, pre-Blakely resentencing. 911 So.2d at 814-15. Three years later, the First District reiterated that the governing rule in the First District was that Blakely applied “to any resentencing that took place after Apprendi came down, even re-sentencings taking place before Blakely was decided.” Monnar, 984 So.2d at 619. Accordingly, in Johnson, the First District reasoned and held as follows:

Here the appellant was resentenced after Apprendi was decided but before Blakely came down. Thus, pursuant to Isaac, the dictates of Apprendi and Blakely apply to appellant’s sentences.
The trial court held that even if Ap-prendi applies, the sentences imposed did not violate Apprendi because they were not above the statutory máximums for the offenses. However, the appellant was sentenced pursuant to the sentencing guidelines, not the Criminal Punishment Code. Thus, as Blakely makes clear, the statutory maximum would be the maximum guidelines sentence appellant could receive without the court imposing an upward departure. See Behl v. State, 898 So.2d 217 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (holding that pursuant to Blakely, “under a guidelines sentencing scheme which restricts judicial discretion in imposing sentences, the factors used to calculate the maximum guidelines sentence to which a defendant is exposed must be based either on (1) findings made by the jury, (2) facts admitted by the defendant, or (3) the defendant’s prior convictions.”).

Johnson, 18 So.3d at 625. The district court reversed and remanded the case. Id. We granted review. See State v. Johnson, 84 So.3d 1032 (Fla.2012) (table).

II. ANALYSIS

The Supreme Court’s decisions in Ap-prendi and Blakely have caused considerable confusion in criminal sentencing at both the federal and state levels. To resolve the ongoing conflict in our state’s courts regarding the applicability of Blakely to sentences that were final before it issued, we begin by discussing the holdings in these two federal cases and the subsequent rulings of the Supreme Court and this Court regarding their application. Next, we explain the conflict in our state’s district courts regarding Blakely’s application to sentences that were final before Blakely was decided. Finally, we apply our test for determining retroactivity and hold that the rule announced in Blakely is not retroactive.

A. Apprendi, Blakely, and Related Decisions

In Apprendi and Blakely, the Supreme Court addressed the limitations on the sentencing powers of a trial court. In Apprendi the Court was presented with this question: “[Wjhether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that a factual determination authorizing an increase in the maximum prison sentence for an offense from 10 to 20 years be made by a jury on the basis of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 469, 120 S.Ct. 2348. In that case, the defendant pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to three counts, two of which were the second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. Id. at 469-70, 120 S.Ct. 2348. One New Jersey statute provided a five-to-ten year sentencing range for the offense, but another gave the trial court discretion to impose an extended term of years upon [859]*859finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the offense was a “hate crime.” Id. at 468-69, 120 S.Ct. 2848. The trial court found the offense was a hate crime and imposed an enhanced sentence. Id. at 471, 120 S.Ct. 2348. On review, the Supreme Court noted that “judges in this country have long exercised discretion of this nature in imposing sentence within statutory limits,” id. at 481, 120 S.Ct. 2348 but determined that the trial court exceeded those limits in imposing the enhanced sentence.

In sum, our reexamination of our cases in this area, and of the history upon which they rely, confirms the opinion that we expressed in Jones [v. United States,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 So. 3d 856, 38 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 449, 2013 WL 3214599, 2013 Fla. LEXIS 1341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-fla-2013.