IRA J. HARMON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1989-08-16
No. 88-3183
ERVIN and WENTWORTH, JJ., concur.
547 So. 2d 1027 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1989) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Ira Harmon appealed his convictions and sentences for aggravated assault and armed robbery, raising challenges to the trial court's sentencing departure and denial of a motion to vacate the assault convictions on double jeopardy grounds. The appellate court reversed both rulings based on intervening Supreme Court decisions invalidating the sentencing rationale and the legislative amendment that had been used to uphold the dual convictions.


Holding

The court reversed both the sentencing departure and the denial of post-conviction relief. The law of the case doctrine does not prevent reconsideration when an intervening higher court decision is controlling. The legislative amendment cannot be applied retroactively, and where assault and armed robbery convictions arise from identical criminal acts, the assault convictions must be vacated to avoid double jeopardy violations.


Headnotes

[1] The law of the case doctrine does not preclude reconsideration of a decided issue when an intervening decision of a higher court to the contrary is controlling on that is…

[2] A legislative amendment cannot be given retroactive effect to validate convictions that violate constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

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Key Quotes

“The law of the case doctrine does not preclude reconsideration of a decided issue when an intervening decision of a higher court to the contrary is controlling on that issue.”

Establishes that appellate courts can reconsider prior rulings when controlling higher court precedent changes the law

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Facts & Procedural History

Harmon was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of armed robbery arising from the same two criminal acts. The trial court sent…

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Opinion of the Court
ZEHMER, Judge.

ZEHMER, Judge.

Once again we review the convictions and sentences of Ira J. Harmon. The pertinent facts and relevant history of this case are stated in those opinions.1 Harmon raises three points on this appeal, only two of which require discussion.

First, he contends that the trial court erred in departing from the sentencing guidelines because the single reason given,2 although it had been previously approved on prior appeals to this court, was invalid under the supreme court’s decision in State v. Jones, 530 So. 2d 53 (Fla.1988), which was rendered after those appeals but prior to his most recent sentencing pursuant to the decision and mandate of this court in Harmon II.

We agree and reverse the departure sentence with directions to sentence appellant within a properly calculated sentencing guidelines range. Hogan v. State, 542 So. 2d 1068 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). The law of the case doctrine does not preclude reconsideration of a decided issue when an intervening decision of a higher court to the contrary is controlling on that issue. Young v. State, 503 So. 2d 1360 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).3

Second, Harmon contends that because his convictions and sentences on the two charges of aggravated assault arose out of the same two criminal acts as his convictions and sentences on the two charges of armed robbery, the trial court erred in denying his motion under rules 3.850 and 3.800, Fla.R.Crim.P., to set aside the assault convictions as violative of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy pursuant to the federal and Florida constitutions.

The trial court heard argument on these motions at the sentencing hearing and denied the motion reasoning that the legislative amendment in chapter 88-131, Laws of Florida, overturned the supreme court decision in Carawan v. State, 515 So. 2d 161 (Fla.1987), and would apply retroactively to validate Harmon’s convictions. (R. 54-58).4 But the supreme court and this court have now ruled that this amendment cannot be given retroactive effect, State v. Smith, 547 So. 2d 613 (Fla.1989); Heath v. State, 532 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), rev. denied, 541 So. 2d 1173 (Fla.1989).

It appearing from the record that each aggravated assault conviction was based upon the same criminal act as the corresponding armed robbery conviction, we reverse the denial of appellant’s motion for post-conviction relief and remand with directions to vacate both of appellant’s convictions for aggravated assault, and to resentence appellant upon the armed robbery convictions within properly calculated sentencing guidelines. Hall v. State, 517 So. 2d 678 (Fla.1988); Carawan v. State, 515 So. 2d 161 (Fla.1987); Payne v. State, 538 So. 2d 1302 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989); Denmark v. State, 538 So. 2d 68 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), reh. denied, 544 So. 2d 266; Neal v. State, 531 So. 2d 410 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Etlinger v. State, 538 So. 2d 1354 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989).

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

ERVIN and WENTWORTH, JJ., concur. . Harmon v. State, 506 So. 2d 500 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987) (Harmon I); Harmon v. State, 531 So. 2d 391 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (Harmon II),

. That ground recited: "The Defendant committed this offense on November 3, 1985, approximately 15 months after being released on parole for a prior armed robbery conviction. Recent release from incarceration has been held to be a valid reason to exceed the recommended guideline range.” (R. 24, 43, 83).

. "As to the State's argument that we are bound by the law of the case, we point out that an appellate court is bound to follow the latest pronouncements of the law from the higher court at the time an appeal is finally decided. Moreover, notwithstanding the general rule concerning the law of the case, reconsideration of prior settled rulings is warranted when reliance on the previous decision would result in manifest injustice. Preston v. State, 444 So. 2d 939 (Fla.1984).” 503 So. 2d at 1361.

.We review the court's ruling reflected in the transcribed record of that hearing even though it was not thereafter reduced to a written order. Ordinarily, rulings on motions made in open court and reflected on a written transcript of proceedings are sufficient to support appellate review, and it furthers the interest of justice by bringing the sentencing proceedings in this case to a close with some degree of finality while avoiding unnecessary judicial labor on yet another appeal.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Horton v. State, 682 So. 2d 647 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
    …te had expressed an essential prerequisite to acceptance of a habitual felony offender sentence. Under these circumstances it would be manifestly unfair to refuse to grant relief based upon the law of the case doctrine. See Preston; Harmon v. State, 547 So. 2d 1027 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), rev. denied, 554 So. 2d 1168 (Fla.1989); Young v. State, 503 So. 2d 1360 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). We accordingly reverse the order to the extent that it reflects a denial of the Ashley claim, and we remand this case to the trial cou…
  • Freda v. State, 555 So. 2d 886 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)
    …convicted of six (6) felonies, three for grand theft and three for uttering a forged instrument. I don’t believe the appellant could be properly convicted of both grand theft and uttering for each act of cashing a forged check. In Harmon v. State, 547 So. 2d 1027, 1028 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), our sister court reviewed a similar claim for post-conviction relief and held: Second, Harmon contends that because his convictions and sentences on the two charges of aggravated assault arose out of the same two crimina…

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