AMOS DONALD BOYD
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Appellant challenges his criminal conviction and sentence, arguing the trial court erred by adjudicating him guilty without him entering a valid plea. The court held that the trial court violated Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c) by failing to conduct a complete plea colloquy before sentencing and must either conduct a proper colloquy or allow the defendant to proceed to trial.
The trial court violated Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c) by adjudicating the defendant guilty and sentencing him without first conducting a complete plea colloquy. The trial court must either conduct a valid plea colloquy before entering judgment or allow the defendant to proceed to trial.
[1] A trial court violates Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c) when it adjudicates a defendant guilty and imposes sentence without conducting a proper plea colloquy e…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe trial court initiated a plea colloquy but abandoned it when appellant was unaware of mandatory minimum sentencing requirements. The trial court st…
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September 20, 2018 PER CURIAM.
Appellant challenges his criminal judgment and sentence, arguing the trial court erred by adjudicating him guilty although he had not entered a plea.
A trial court is required to inquire into a defendant’s understanding of a plea so that the record contains information showing the defendant entered into the plea intelligently and voluntarily. Davis v. State, 187 So. 3d 1284 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). Here, the record shows the trial court conducted part of a plea colloquy but then abandoned it because appellant was not aware of the mandatory minimum sentence he was facing. In fact, the trial court stated on the record that it was resetting the hearing “[f]or plea hopefully.” At the subsequent hearing, the parties and the trial court mistakenly believed appellant had already entered a plea, and the court proceeded to sentence appellant without first conducting a colloquy. The trial court thereby violated Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(c). See Davis, 187 So. 3d at 1284.
Accordingly, we REVERSE and REMAND with instructions either to conduct a plea colloquy before entering a judgment and sentence or to allow appellant to proceed with a trial.
WOLF, JAY, and WINSOR, JJ., concur. _____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331.
_____________________________ Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Steven L. Seliger, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Frank Xavier Moehrle Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.