DEFOREST KELLY
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA

Fla. 5th DCA | 2022-02-18
No. 21-3019
Crawford, J., Lambert, C.J., Eisnaugle, J., Traver, J.
Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2022)

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Holding

When a defendant voluntarily allocutes at sentencing, the trial court may properly consider the defendant's statements, including those indicating a failure to accept responsibility.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant's claim that a trial court improperly considered the defendant's lack of remorse and failure to accept responsibility when imposing sentence cannot be raised…

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Key Quotes

“when a defendant voluntarily chooses to allocute at a sentencing hearing, the sentencing court is permitted to consider the defendant's freely offered statements, including those indicating a failure to accept responsibility”

Davis v. State, cited as controlling authority for the holding

Facts & Procedural History

Deforest Kelly appealed a sentencing decision from Brevard County Circuit Court. Kelly challenged the sentencing court's consideration of his lack of …

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Opinion of the Court
Lambert

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO

FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND

DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

DEFOREST KELLY,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D21-3019 LT Case No. 2011-CF-050130-BX

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

________________________________/

Opinion filed February 18, 2022

3.800 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County, Charles G. Crawford, Judge.

Deforest Kelly, Milton, pro se.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Carmen

F.

Corrente, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED. See Davis v. State, 46 Fla. L. Weekly S361, 364 (Fla. Dec. 2, 2021) (holding “that when a defendant voluntarily chooses to allocute

2 at a sentencing hearing, the sentencing court is permitted to consider the defendant’s freely offered statements, including those indicating a failure to accept responsibility”); Collier v. State, 148 So. 3d 797, 798 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (holding that a claim that the trial court improperly took into account the defendant’s lack of remorse and candor when imposing sentence is a challenge to the sentencing process, as opposed to the legality of the sentence itself, and thus cannot be raised in a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion); Guilford v. State, 88 So. 3d 998, 999 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (holding that a defendant’s claim that the trial court erroneously considered his failure to admit guilt and accept responsibility for the crime is not cognizable in a rule 3.800(a) motion).

LAMBERT, C.J., EISNAUGLE and TRAVER, JJ., concur.


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