VASHON OLAND LEWIS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Vashon Lewis appeals his dual sentencing as both a habitual violent felony offender and a prison releasee reoffender for burglary of an occupied dwelling. The court held that Florida's Prison Releasee Reoffender Act authorizes only the greater of the two sentences, not both, and therefore vacated the habitual violent offender sentence in favor of the longer prison releasee reoffender sentence.
The court held that the Prison Releasee Reoffender Act authorizes alternatives—allowing the State to seek whichever sentence imposes longer imprisonment—but does not provide for dual sentences. Dual sentencing for the same crime violates double jeopardy principles. The longer prison releasee reoffender sentence must be imposed, and the habitual violent offender sentence must be vacated.
[1] Sentencing a defendant as both a habitual violent felony offender and a prison releasee reoffender for the same offense violates double jeopardy protections.
[2] A statute authorizing a court to impose a greater sentence of incarceration does not permit dual sentences for the same crime.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a court from imposing a greater sentence of incarceration as authorized by law, pursuant to s. 775.084 or any other provision of law.”
The statutory language that the court interpreted to authorize alternatives (the greater sentence) rather than dual sentences
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceLewis was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling on March 16, 1998. At trial on July 16, 1998, the jury found him guilty. The State filed notic…
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GRIFFIN, J.
Vashon O. Lewis [“Lewis”] seeks review of his sentence as both a habitual violent felony offender and prison releasee reof-fender. The State charged Lewis with one count of burglary of an occupied dwelling on March 16, 1998. On March 18, 1998, the State filed notice of its intent to seek prison releasee reoffender penalties upon conviction. At a jury trial on July 16, 1998, the jury found Lewis guilty. The State then filed its notice to seek habitual felony offender penalties on August 12, 1998. On September 18, 1998, Lewis filed a motion to declare section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997), the “Prison Releasee Reoffender Act,” unconstitutional. Specifically, Lewis argued that the statute violated: (1) the single subject rule; (2) the separation of powers doctrine by divesting the trial court of sentencing discretion in favor of the state attorney and victims; (3) state and federal due process guarantees; (4) equal protection; and (5) the constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment. Lewis additionally argued that the statute was void for vagueness due to the failure to define the terms “sufficient evidence,” “material witness,” “extenuating circumstance,” and “just prosecution.” Finally, he argued that sentencing him as both a habitual violent felony offender and as a prison releasee reoffender violated double jeopardy. The court denied his motion in all its components.
The trial court entered a written order adjudicating Lewis a habitual violent felony offender based upon the following prior convictions: armed burglary; grand theft; grand theft with firearm; aggravated assault; burglary of a dwelling; and battery on the elderly. The court also entered a written order the same day adjudicating Lewis a prison releasee reoffender based upon the same convictions. In addition, the court entered its judgment adjudicating Lewis guilty of the offense of burglary of an occupied dwelling and sentencing him to concurrent terms, as a habitual felony offender, to ten years imprisonment followed by ten years of probation and, as a prison releasee reoffender, to fifteen years in prison.
Lewis contends that being sentenced both as a habitual violent felony offender and as a prison releasee reoffen-der, under section 775.082(8), Florida Statutes (1997), otherwise known as the “Prison Releasee Reoffender Punishment Act,” [“PRR”], violates the prohibitions against double jeopardy provided in the Fifth Amendment and Article I, section 9, of the Florida Constitution. Accordingly, Lewis requests this court to vacate “one of his dual sentences,” without choosing one or the other. The State, on the other hand, construes subsection (c) of the Act to mean the trial court may impose both sentences.
Subsection (c) provides:
(c) Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a court from imposing a greater sentence of incarceration as authorized by law, pursuant to s. 775.084 or any other provision of law.
We agree with Lewis that the above subsection authorizes alternatives; namely, the statute allows the State to seek whichever sentence may imprison the defendant longer. It does not provide for dual sentences. See Adams v. State, 750 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)(“A reading of the statute reveals that the Legislature did not intend to authorize an unconstitutional ‘double sentence’ in cases where a convicted defendant qualified as both a prison releasee reoffender and a habitual offender.”); see also Glave v. State, 745 So. 2d 1065 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).
Here, the trial court sentenced Lewis, as a prison releasee reoffender, to a term of fifteen years imprisonment to run concurrently with his “split sentence” as a habitual violent felony offender of ten years in prison followed by ten on probation. Thus, like the defendant in Adams, Lewis “has received two separate sentences for the same crime, with different lengths and release eligibility requirements.” Adams, 750 So. 2d at 661. This was error. Because the PRR sentence is the longer of the two incarceration1 alternatives, it is the one that must be imposed. We vacate the habitual violent offender sentence. AFFIRMED in part; VACATED in part.
GOSHORN and THOMPSON, JJ., concur. . The PRR statute speaks in terms of greater sentences of incarceration.
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Smith v. State, 754 So. 2d 100 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…ed. JOANOS, MINER and DAVIS, JJ., CONCUR. . The PRR Act is now codified at section 775.082(9), Florida Statutes (1999). . The sentence imposed in Adams was identical to the one imposed in this case. We do not certify conflict with Lewis v. State, 751 So. 2d 106 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), because of the different sentencing scheme imposed in that case.…
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Walls v. State, 765 So. 2d 733 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…reaching the above result, we find no conflict between this case and Smith v. State, 754 So. 2d 100 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000); Adams v. State, 750 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), petition for review filed, No. 00-18 (Fla. Jan. 3, 2000); or Lewis v. State, 751 So. 2d 106 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), petition for review filed, No. 00-686 (Fla. Mar. 29, 2000), none of which involve the same factual situation of life sentences under both the prison releasee reoffender and habitual felony offender statute. AFFIRMED in part, RE…
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Kimbrough v. State, 776 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)…d, the appellate courts disagreed as to whether the trial court could enter enhanced sentences under both the PRR and the HFO provisions for a single offense. This court in Thomas v. State, 745 So. 2d 1119 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), and in Lewis v. State, 751 So. 2d 106 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), held that the trial court could not. This was consistent with the holding from the Fourth District in Adams v. State, 750 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). The supreme court seemed inclined in that direction when it held in State…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Pollock v. Couffer, 750 So. 2d 659 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
- Glave v. State, 745 So. 2d 1065 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)