ALBERTO RUIZ
v.
STATE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2018-04-30
No. 5D17-2877
242 So. 3d 1204 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2018)

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Synopsis

Alberto Ruiz, sentenced to forty years in prison plus lifetime sex offender probation for sexual battery committed as a minor, appealed the trial court's partial denial of his motion to correct sentence. The court granted a juvenile sentence review hearing but denied a full resentencing hearing. The appellate court affirmed the review hearing provision but reversed and remanded for a full resentencing hearing based on controlling precedent.


Holding

The trial court's order amending the sentencing documents to provide for a juvenile sentence review hearing is affirmed, but the denial of a full resentencing hearing is reversed and remanded. The trial court must conduct a full resentencing hearing under sections 775.082, 921.1401, and 921.1402, Florida Statutes.


Headnotes

[1] When a trial court modifies a juvenile offender's sentence to provide for a review hearing under Florida Statutes sections 775.082, 921.1401, and 921.1402, it must also c…

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Facts & Procedural History

Ruiz was seventeen years old when he committed sexual battery and entered an open plea. He was sentenced to forty years in prison followed by lifetime…

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Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM. Alberto Ruiz appeals the partial denial of his motion to correct sentence filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a).1 Ruiz, who was seventeen years old at the time of his offense, entered an open plea to sexual battery and was sentenced to forty 1 Although Ruiz filed his motion under rule 3.850, the trial court correctly considered it under rule 3.800(a).

years in prison, followed by a lifetime of sex offender probation. In his rule 3.800(a) motion, Ruiz argued that he was entitled to a full resentencing hearing and judicial review of his sentence. The trial court granted Ruiz’s motion in part, amending the sentencing documents to allow for a juvenile sentence review hearing, but denying Ruiz a new resentencing hearing.

In Davis v. State, 230 So. 3d 487 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017), this Court held that the trial court erred when it modified a juvenile defendant’s sentence to allow for a review hearing without also holding a resentencing hearing under sections 775.082, 921.1401 and 921.1402, Florida Statutes (2014). Accord Katwaroo v. State, 237 So. 3d 446 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018) (stating same). Ruiz’s situation is identical. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s order amending the sentence to provide for a review hearing, but reverse and remand to allow the court to conduct a full resentencing hearing.

AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; and REMANDED. COHEN, C.J. and ORFINGER, J., concur. BERGER, J., concurring specially with opinion.

Berger, J., concurring specially. 5D17-2877 I concur based on this Court’s decision in Davis v. State, 230 So. 3d 487, 488 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017). However, were I writing on a clean slate, I would affirm. In my view, Ruiz is not entitled to resentencing under Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), or Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), because his forty-year sentence is not a de facto life sentence. See Davis v. State, 214 So. 3d 799, 799-800 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017).


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