DAVID RANDALL LEWIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1994-04-27
Nos. 92-4010 and 92-4011
MINER and DAVIS, JJ., concur.
636 So. 2d 154 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1994) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Holding

The court held that the failure to provide written notice of intent to seek habitual felony offender sentences was harmless error because the defendant and his attorney had actual notice through the plea agreement.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant's plea agreement can serve as notice of the state's intent to seek habitual felony offender status.

[2] Failure to provide written notice of intent to seek habitual felony offender status is subject to harmless error analysis.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellant pleaded no contest to aggravated battery and violated probation. A plea agreement stipulated that if probation was violated, he could be sen…

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Opinion of the Court
WEBSTER, Judge.

WEBSTER, Judge.

In these two direct criminal appeals, appellant seeks review of his sentences. In both cases, appellant argues that he was improperly sentenced as an habitual felony offender. We affirm.

In circuit court ease number 89-385, appellant had originally entered a plea of no contest to the charge of aggravated battery, for which he was placed on probation. Appellant subsequently admitted that he had violated the conditions of his probation, having been charged with the new offenses of burglary of a structure and kidnapping in circuit court case number 91-1187. In case number 89-385, appellant’s probation was revoked and he was placed on community control. In case number 91-1187 (appellant having pleaded no contest to the charges), the trial court deferred sentencing to see whether appellant successfully completed the term of community control imposed in case number 89-385. An express condition of the plea agreement in the two cases read as follows:

Defendant acknowledges that should he violate the terms of his Community Control, he shall be sentenced in Case No. 91-1187G to no more than 10 years DOC (Prison) as a Habitual Offender, should he qualify for Habitual Offender treatment. Defendant further acknowledges that the Court may also impose sentence on the violation of Community Control consecutive to any sentence in Case No. 91-1187G, in the event of any alleged violation.

A little more than a month after appellant had been placed on community control, he was charged with a violation of his conditions. After a hearing, the trial court found that appellant had violated the conditions of his community control. In case number 91-1187, the state presented uncontradicted evidence establishing that appellant qualified as an habitual felony offender. Accordingly, pursuant to the earlier plea agreement, the trial court sentenced appellant in case number 91-1187 as an habitual felony offender to ten years in prison on each count, the two sentences to run concurrent with each other; and in case number 89-385 to twenty months on community control, to be served consecutively to the sentences in case number 91-1187.

We find it unnecessary to address appellant’s challenge to the community control sentence imposed in case number 89-385, because it is apparent from the record that appellant was not sentenced as an habitual felony offender in that case. The trial court did impose habitual felony offender sentences in case number 91-1187. Appellant argues that those sentences are illegal because he was never served with written notice of the state’s intent to seek imposition of habitual felony offender sentences, as required by statute. § 775.084(3)(b), Fla.Stat. (1989). We disagree.

It is true that no written notice of the state’s intent to seek habitual felony offender sentences appears in the record for case number 91-1187. (It appears that a notice intended for that case was erroneously prepared with a reference to case number 89-385, causing it to be placed in that file.) However, the supreme court has held that failure to satisfy the written notice requirements of the habitual offender statute is subject to a harmless error analysis. Massey v. State, 609 So. 2d 598 (Fla.1992). In Massey, the court said:

The purpose of requiring a prior written notice is to advise of the state’s intent and give the defendant and the defendant’s attorney an opportunity to prepare for the hearing. This purpose was clearly accomplished because Massey and his attorney had actual notice in advance of the hearing. It is inconceivable that Massey was prejudiced by not having received the written notice.

Id. at 600.

As in Massey, “[i]t is inconceivable” that appellant could have been prejudiced in any way by the proceedings in the trial court. Even if the written notice which was apparently erroneously identified as intended for case number 89-385 is disregarded, there can be no question about the fact that both appellant and his attorney were aware that the state would seek habitual felony offender sentences if appellant qualified — it was an express term of the plea agreement by which appellant managed to convince everyone to give him one additional chance on community control. Moreover, there is no suggestion in the transcript of the sentencing hearing that either appellant or his attorney was surprised by or unprepared to deal with the state’s request for imposition of habitual felony offender sentences. Accordingly, we hold that, on the facts presented, the failure to serve a written notice of intent to seek habitual felony offender sentences was harmless beyond any reasonable doubt. Therefore, we affirm.

AFFIRMED.

MINER and DAVIS, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Hollis v. State, 763 So. 2d 1155 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …be determinative as to whether the notice was served as required by the statute.1 In addition, if there was actual notice, the lack of written notice can be harmless [*1157] error. Massey v. State, 609 So. 2d 598, 600 (Fla.1992) and Lewis v. State, 636 So. 2d 154, 156 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). An eviden-tiary hearing would thus be necessary in this case to determine whether the written notice was served or whether there was actual notice.2 Because the issue raised by appellant’s rule 3.800(a) motion could not be…
  • Lashawn Crawford v. State, 798 So. 2d 10 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)
    …PER CURIAM. Any alleged error in the state’s written Notice of Intent to seek an enhanced sentence is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Lewis v. State, 636 So. 2d 154, 156 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994) (failure to satisfy [*11] written notice requirements is subject to harmless error analysis). AFFIRMED. MINER, LEWIS and POLSTON, JJ., CONCUR.…

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