DEONNO MILLER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2012-01-20
No. 2D11-1807
VILLANTI and MORRIS, JJ., Concur.
77 So. 3d 888 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2012) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Holding

The court held that the trial court erred in denying the motion to correct illegal sentences because the record did not conclusively refute the defendant's claim that his sentences violated the ex post facto clause.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court errs by applying the wrong version of a statute when determining the legality of a sentence.

[2] Sentences imposed upon revocation of youthful offender probation must be analyzed under the statutory provisions in effect at the time the original offenses were committe…

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Facts & Procedural History

Deonno Miller, a youthful offender, committed new offenses while on probation and admitted to violating his probation. He was sentenced to ten years o…

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Opinion of the Court
ALTENBERND, Judge.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Deonno Miller appeals an order denying his motion to correct illegal sentences. Because the records attached to the order do not conclusively refute Mr. Miller’s postconviction claim that the trial court imposed illegal sentences on the revocation of his youthful offender probation, we reverse and remand.

In January 2007, Deonno Miller was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment followed by two years’ probation as a youthful offender on several felony offenses in *889each of three separate cases. He was sentenced to time served on two misdemeanor offenses. Our record is scant, but it appears that the offenses for which Mr. Miller was sentenced as a youthful offender occurred sometime in 2004 and 2005, clearly before July 1, 2006.1

In 2009, while serving probation, Mr. Miller committed new substantive offenses — two counts of possession of cocaine and two counts of sale, manufacture, or delivery of cocaine. Mr. Miller entered a plea on the new substantive offenses, and he was sentenced as an adult on those offenses to four concurrent terms of ten years’ imprisonment on the four counts.2 Mr. Miller also entered a written plea admitting that he violated the terms of his probation in the three prior youthful offender cases and acknowledging that he understood that he would be sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment on the revocation of probation. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of ten years’ imprisonment on each of the felony convictions in the three prior cases. Written judgments and sentences were rendered in all of the cases on August 21, 2009.

Mr. Miller delivered to his correctional institution a sworn motion to correct sentencing error on August 2, 2010, and he delivered to his correctional institution a sworn addendum to the motion on November 1, 2010, citing Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b) as the authority for the filings. He asserted that he successfully completed “boot camp” on his youthful offender sentences and that under the law in effect when he committed his prior offenses, he could be sentenced to no more than 364 days on the revocation of probation. He argued that the sentences imposed on the revocation of probation in the three youthful offender cases violated the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws.

Mr. Miller’s sworn claims could have been considered pursuant to rule 3.850, but the court elected to consider them pursuant to rule 3.800(a) and summarily denied relief. It concluded as a matter of law that certain provisions of the youthful offender statute authorized the imposition of the ten-year sentences on the revocation of Mr. Miller’s youthful offender probation. In reaching this conclusion, the court incorrectly relied upon the version of a statutory provision that was applicable at the time Mr. Miller was originally sentenced as a youthful offender, rather than the version of the provision in effect at the time Mr. Miller committed his offenses. Compare § 958.045(5)(c), Fla. Stat. (2007) (authorizing the court to sentence a youthful offender to “any sentence that it might have originally imposed” if the offender violates a modified sentence of probation that was imposed as a consequence of the offender’s satisfactory completion of a basic training program run by the Department of Corrections), with § 958.045(5)(c), Fla. Stat. (2004, 2005) (authorizing the court to sentence such an offender to “any sentence that it might have originally imposed as a condition of probation”) (emphasis added)).

*890Significantly, in applying the incorrect version of the statutory provision, the court stopped short of addressing whether the revocation proceeding arose from the violation of probationary terms that had been imposed following Mr. Miller’s satisfactory performance in a DOC-run basic training program (commonly referred to as “boot camp”).3 See § 958.045(5)(c), Fla. Stat. (2004, 2005). This determination was critical to Mr. Miller’s claim. If Mr. Miller violated a probationary sentence that was imposed as a consequence of his satisfactory completion of a DOC-run boot camp on convictions for offenses that occurred prior to July 1, 2006, the sentences imposed on the revocation of his youthful offender probation indeed violated the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws. See Morrison v. State, 978 So.2d 284, 285 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); see also Cutler v. State, 927 So.2d 249, 250 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Blaxton v. State, 868 So.2d 620, 621 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Lee v. State, 884 So.2d 460, 462 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004) (providing that an offender who completes a county-operated boot camp would not be entitled to section 958.045(5)(c) sentencing because “no provisions in the Youthful Offender Act requir[e] application of rules governing department boot camp facilities to the county-run programs”). Under the youthful offender provisions in effect in 2004 and 2005, a violation of a probationary sentence that was imposed as a consequence of an offender’s satisfactory completion of a DOC-run boot camp could result in a sentence of no longer than 364 days’ incarceration in specified facilities. See §§ 958.045(5)(e), 958.04(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2004, 2005); Cutler, 927 So.2d at 250; Morrison, 978 So.2d at 285.

The items attached to the court’s summary denial order do not conclusively refute Mr. Miller’s claim that under the youthful offender law in effect when he committed his prior offenses he could be sentenced to no more than 364 days on the revocation of probation. Because Mr. Miller filed a sworn motion that is timely under rule 3.850, we reverse and remand for the court to address the motion as if filed under that rule.

Reversed and remanded.

VILLANTI and MORRIS, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Lamore v. State, 86 So. 3d 546 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)
    …of his crimes and his treatment as a youthful offender — provides at least some basis for an argument that he should be subject to the statutory scheme in effect at the time that he entered boot camp, this court’s recent decision in Miller v. State, 77 So. 3d 888 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), quiets any such debate. In Miller, the defendant was sentenced as a youthful offender in 2007 for offenses that occurred in 2004 and 2005. Id. at 888-89. The defendant claimed to have completed boot camp and was subsequently rele…
  • Negron v. State, 90 So. 3d 948 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012)
    …ffenses occurred prior to July 1, 2006. The application of the aforesaid statutory amendment to offenses committed prior to the amendment’s effective date would violate the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws.1 See Miller v. State, 77 So. 3d 888 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012); Morrison v. State, 978 So. 2d 284 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); Adderly. Therefore, if Negron successfully completed the boot camp program, the maximum sentence he could receive upon his violation of probation was 364 days in jail.2 Beca…

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