RANDY DEMONS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1991-04-10
No. 90-0283
GUNTHER and POLEN, JJ., concur., LETTS, J., concurs specially with opinion.
577 So. 2d 702 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1991) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

We find that the judgment and conviction should be affirmed in all respects; however, we find error in the trial court’s sentencing of the defendant as a habitual offender on count II without providing specific reasons therefor. We reverse the sentence as to count II only and we remand for resentencing on this count. The trial judge should state with specificity the reasons for sentencing any defendant as a habitual offender. Williams v. State, 532 So. 2d 1341 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988).

GUNTHER and POLEN, JJ., concur. LETTS, J., concurs specially with opinion.

Concurrence
LETTS, Judge,

LETTS, Judge,

specially concurring.

I concur because I must. Never mind Williams, we are mandated to do so by our supreme court’s decision in Walker v. State, 462 So. 2d 452 (Fla.1985). However, I grow impatient with the ever increasing demands the appellate courts place on already overburdened trial judges. More and more, we require them to justify themselves in minute detail or we will reverse. As I see it, trial judges should not have to carry the burden of proof to establish they were not wrong. To the contrary, it should be the duty of the criminal-appellant to overcome the presumption that the trial court was right. If any sentencing discretion in criminal cases is not long gone, it is certainly soon to go.

It is perfectly obvious, from a study of this record, (the notice to seek enhanced penalty, coupled with perusal of the PSI and the dialogue between the judge and the respective attorneys at the sentencing hearing), that the defendant was enhanced because the court thought the public needed to be protected from a career criminal. In fact, the “notice of intent to seek enhanced penalties” specifically stated, “The defendant is a habitual criminal in which protection of the public will best be served by a sentence with enhanced penalties.” If this were a case of first impression, I would affirm it.


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Cited By

  • Demons v. State, 614 So. 2d 47 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)
    …HERSEY, Judge. Once again we reverse and remand this case for resentencing. See Demons v. State, 577 So. 2d 702 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). When a defendant is to be sentenced as an habitual felony offender pursuant to section 775.084(l)(a), Florida Statutes (1989), the trial court is required to make findings, either in its written order or at the sentencing hearin…

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