Walle v. State

99 So. 3d 967, 2012 WL 4465555, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 16471
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 28, 2012
DocketNo. 2D11-1393
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 99 So. 3d 967 (Walle v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walle v. State, 99 So. 3d 967, 2012 WL 4465555, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 16471 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

CASANUEVA, Judge.

Jose Guadalupe Walle — thirteen years old when he committed numerous nonho-micide offenses in Hillsborough County— appeals his sentences, contending they violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Following convictions for eighteen offenses, the trial judge imposed sentences totaling sixty-five years of imprisonment. The trial judge also ordered the sixty-five-year terms to run consecutively to previously imposed concurrent sentences totaling twenty-seven years’ imprisonment. Three months earlier, a different trial judge in a different judicial circuit had imposed the latter sentences in an unrelated case for crimes that Mr. Walle had committed two weeks before the crimes for which he was sentenced in this case. Mr. Walle claims that his resulting imprisonment for ninety-two years is the functional equivalent of a life sentence without the possibility of release. He argues that such a scheme violates the Supreme Court’s ruling in Graham v. Florida, — U.S.-, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010). We affirm.

Since we heard oral argument in this case, the Supreme Court has released Miller v. Alabama, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), and further discussed Graham. We will comment briefly on Miller as well as apply Graham to Mr. Walle’s case.

Mr. Walle’s Sentence

Mr. Walle pleaded guilty to eighteen offenses committed in Hillsborough County: two counts of armed kidnapping, eleven counts of armed sexual battery with a deadly weapon, one count of armed burglary of a structure, one count of grand theft motor vehicle, one count of attempted armed robbery with a firearm, one count of grand theft in the third degree, and one count of carjacking with a deadly weapon. The trial judge sentenced him to sixty-five years each on the armed kidnapping, armed sexual battery with a deadly weapon, and carjacking with a deadly weapon counts; to fifteen years each on the armed burglary of a structure and attempted robbery with a firearm counts; and to five years each on the grand theft of a motor vehicle and grand theft in the third degree counts. All counts were to run concurrent to each other but consecutive to the concurrent sentences totaling twenty-seven years previously imposed in Pinellas County for armed sexual battery, two counts of kidnapping, and three counts of armed robbery.

Graham v. Florida

In Graham, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825, the juvenile defendant committed the offenses of armed burglary with an assault or battery and at[969]*969tempted armed robbery. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial judge withheld adjudication and sentenced Mr. Graham to three years of probation on each count, concurrent. When Mr. Graham violated his probation, the trial judge revoked his probation, adjudicated him guilty, and sentenced him to the statutory maximum for each offense — life in prison and fifteen years in prison, respectively. Id. at 2018-20.

Mr. Graham filed a motion in the trial court arguing that his life sentence without possibility of parole was cruel and unusual punishment proscribed by the Eighth Amendment.1 The trial judge did not rule on the motion within sixty days and it was deemed denied. Id. at 2020. The First District affirmed the sentence on direct appeal and the Florida Supreme Court subsequently denied review. See Graham v. State, 982 So.2d 43 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), review denied, 990 So.2d 1058 (Fla.2008).

The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari review. It recognized that the case “concern[ed] only those juvenile offenders sentenced to life without parole solely for a nonhomicide offense.” Graham, 180 S.Ct. at 2023. It then examined existing case law, looking at different classifications of proportionality issues raised in Eighth Amendment cases, to determine the best course of review. The Court explained:

In the first classification the Court considers all of the circumstances of the case to determine whether the sentence is unconstitutionally excessive....
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The second classification of cases has used categorical rules to define Eighth Amendment standards-The classification in turn consists of two subsets, one considering the nature of the offense, the other considering the characteristics of the offender. With respect to the nature of the offense, the Court has concluded that capital punishment is impermissible for nonhomicide crimes against individuals. In cases turning on the characteristics of the offender, the Court has adopted categorical rules prohibiting the death penalty for defendants who committed their crimes before the age of 18 or whose intellectual functioning is in a low range.
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The present case involves an issue the Court has not considered previously: a categorical challenge to a term-of-years sentence. The approach in cases such as Harmelin [v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 111 S.Ct. 2680, 115 L.Ed.2d 836 (1991),] and Ewing [v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 123 S.Ct. 1179, 155 L.Ed.2d 108 (2003),] is suited for considering a gross proportionality challenge to a particular defendant’s sentence, but here a sentencing practice itself is in question. This case implicates a particular type of sentence as it applies to an entire class of offenders who have committed a range of crimes. As a result, a threshold comparison between the severity of the penalty and the gravity of the crime does not advance the analysis. Here, in addressing the question presented, the appropriate analysis is the one used in cases that involved the categorical approach[.]

Id. at 2021-23 (citations omitted).

Applying the categorical approach to a class of offenders consisting of all juveniles, the court determined

[970]*970that for a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide the Eighth Amendment forbids the sentence of life without parole. This clear line is necessary to prevent the possibility that life without parole sentences will be imposed on juvenile nonhomicide offenders who are not sufficiently culpable to merit that punishment.

Id. at 2030. In closing, the Court held:

The Constitution prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide. A State need not guarantee the offender eventual release, but if it imposes a sentence of life it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term.

Id. at 2034.

Miller v. Alabama

Although Miller, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407, is distinguishable from Mr. Walle’s case because it dealt with a homicide offense rather than a nonhomicide one, we look to it for its comments on Graham. In Miller, two fourteen-year-old defendants were each convicted of murder. The sentencing court had no discretion but to sentence each to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. 132 S.Ct. at 2460.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 So. 3d 967, 2012 WL 4465555, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 16471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walle-v-state-fladistctapp-2012.