JAMES PERRY TURNAGE, JR.
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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James Perry Turnage Jr. appealed the denial of his motion challenging his prison releasee reoffender (PRR) sentence as illegal because a judge, not a jury, made the necessary findings. The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial, bound by its prior decision upholding the constitutionality of the PRR statute despite the appellant's reliance on Apprendi and recent Supreme Court precedent.
The PRR sentence was properly upheld because the Fifth District Court of Appeal is bound by its prior decision in Simmons v. State, which upheld the constitutionality of the PRR statute, notwithstanding Apprendi and more recent Supreme Court precedent suggesting such judicial factfinding may be unconstitutional.
[1] A prison releasee reoffender sentence is constitutional even if a judge, not a jury, made the necessary findings.
[2] Apprendi violations are cognizable in a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“We must affirm the denial based on our binding decision in Simmons v. State, 332 So. 3d 1129 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), which upheld the constitutionality of the PRR statute.”
Explains that the court's affirmance was mandated by prior binding precedent despite the merits of the constitutional challenge.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTurnage received a PRR sentence in which a judge made the findings necessary to impose the enhanced penalty, rather than a jury. The underlying case n…
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FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
Case No. 5D2024-3515 LT Case No. 45-2010-CF-1045-A
JAMES PERRY TURNAGE, JR., Appellant,
v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
3.800 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Nassau County. James Hunt Daniel, Judge.
James Perry Turnage, Miami, pro se.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Darcy Townsend, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
April 11, 2025
AFFIRMED.
WALLIS and HARRIS, JJ., concur. Eisnaugle, J., concurring specially with opinion.
Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.
Case No. 5D2024-3515 LT Case No. 45-2010-CF-1045-A
EISNAUGLE, J., concurring specially with opinion.
James Perry Turnage Jr. appeals the denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion arguing that his prison releasee reoffender (“PRR”) sentence is illegal because a judge, not a jury, made the necessary findings, relying primarily on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) and Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821 (2024).1 We must affirm the denial based on our binding decision in Simmons v. State, 332 So. 3d 1129 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), which upheld the constitutionality of the PRR statute. See also Maye v. State, 368 So. 3d 531 (Fla. 6th DCA 2023), review granted, No. SC2023-1184, 2024 WL 1796831 (Fla. Apr. 25, 2024). But see Denson v. State, 50 Fla. L. Weekly D257 (Fla. 5th DCA Jan. 28, 2025) (Eisnaugle, J., concurring specially) (explaining why Simmons is wrongly decided).
3
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Turnage v. State (Fla. 5th DCA 2025)
Authorities Cited
- Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (U.S. 2000)
- Galindez v. State, 955 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 2007)
- Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821 (U.S. 2024)
- Plott v. State, 148 So. 3d 90 (Fla. 2014)
- Magneson v. State, 368 So. 3d 531 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024)
- Turnage v. State (Fla. 5th DCA 2025)