Mays v. State
| Decision Date | 16 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 90826,90826 |
| Parties | 23 Fla. L. Weekly S387 Albert L. MAYS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, Rebecca M. Becker and Michael S. Becker, Assistant Public Defenders, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Robin A. Compton and Jennifer Meek, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, for Respondent.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Anthony Calvello, Assistant Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, for The Florida Public Defender's Association, Amicus Curiae.
We have for review Mays v. State, 693 So.2d 52 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), based on conflict with Myers v. State, 696 So.2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. We approve the result in Mays as explained herein.
Albert Mays argued with a stranger on January 20, 1996, pulled a knife on him, and threatened to kill him. Mays was charged with and convicted of aggravated assault. His median recommended sentence under the sentencing guidelines was 67.8 months, and his recommended range was between 50.85 and 84.75 months. The statutory maximum sentence for the offense was 60 months. He was sentenced to 70 months, and the district court affirmed. Mays contends that because a portion of the recommended range did not exceed the statutory maximum, the court erred in sentencing him above the statutory maximum. We disagree.
Chapter 921, Florida Statutes, sets forth the process for calculating recommended sentences under the guidelines:
(2) Recommended sentences:
....
If the total sentence points are greater than 52, the sentence must be a state prison sentence calculated by total sentence points. A state prison sentence is calculated as follows:
State prison months = total sentence points minus 28.
The recommended sentence length in state prison months may be increased by up to, and including, 25 percent or decreased by up to, and including, 25 percent, at the discretion of the court.
§ 921.0014(2), Fla. Stat. (1995). Under this procedure, a sentencing court must: (1) determine the median recommended sentence, i.e., total sentence points minus 28; (2) establish the discretionary range, i.e., 25 percent increase and decrease from the median recommended sentence; and (3) select the actual sentence--i.e., the "true" recommended guidelines sentence--from within the range, absent a departure.
The interplay between the sentencing guidelines and the statutory maximums 1 is simple. Prior to 1994, a court could not impose a guidelines sentence outside the statutory limits. 2 The legislature, however, amended the guidelines, effective January 1, 1994, to provide that only departure sentences cannot exceed the statutory maximums. 3 The guidelines currently provide:
Sentences imposed by trial court judges under the 1994 revised sentencing guidelines on or after January 1, 1994, must be within the 1994 guidelines unless there is a departure sentence with written findings. If a recommended sentence under the guidelines exceeds the maximum sentence otherwise authorized by s. 775.082, the sentence under the guidelines must be imposed, absent a departure.
§ 921.001(5), Fla. Stat. (1995). 4 Thus, under the current system, if the guidelines sentence--i.e., the "true" recommended guidelines sentence--exceeds the statutory maximum, the guidelines sentence must be imposed.
In the present case, the trial court properly calculated Mays' median recommended sentence (i.e., 67.8 months) and recommended range (i.e., between 50.85 and 84.75 months) and selected a "true" recommended guidelines sentence within that range (i.e., 70 months). Although this guidelines sentence exceeded the statutory maximum (i.e., 60 months), the trial court was authorized via chapter 921 to impose the guidelines sentence. We find no error. We approve the result in Mays on this issue.
It is so ordered.
I concur that the trial court had authority to exceed the statutory maximum of 60 months' incarceration. However, in my opinion, the maximum sentence the trial court could impose was 67.8 months, which was the "recommended sentence" based on scoresheet calculations. Because the sentencing guidelines encompassed by the 1994 statutory revisions do not explicitly authorize trial courts to utilize the 25% discretionary range to exceed the statutory maximums set forth in section 775.082, Florida Statutes (1993), I agree with the result reached by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Myers v. State, 696 So.2d 893 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).
It is a cardinal rule of statutory construction, known as the rule of lenity, that a criminal statute shall be "strictly construed," and where a statute is "susceptible of differing constructions, it shall be construed most favorably to the accused." § 775.021(1), Fla. Stat. (1993); see also Cabal v. State, 678 So.2d 315, 318 (Fla.1996); Johnson v. State, 602 So.2d 1288, 1290 (Fla.1992); Perkins v. State, 576 So.2d 1310, 1312 (Fla.1991). The rule of lenity applies "not only to interpretations of the substantive ambit of criminal prohibitions, but also to the penalties they impose." Carawan v. State, 515 So.2d 161, 165 (Fla.1987), superseded by statute on other grounds, § 775.021(4), Fla. Stat. (1989).
In each of the cases before us--Myers; Green v. State, 691 So.2d 502 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997); Mays v. State, 693 So.2d 52 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997); and Wilkins v. State, 693 So.2d 62 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)--the total sentence points on the guidelines scoresheet resulted in a recommended sentence in excess of the statutory maximum. 5 The Fourth District in Myers agreed with the Fifth District that the trial court possessed the authority to impose the recommended sentence based on the total sentence points, even though it was outside the statutory maximum of section 775.082. The disagreement between Myers on one side and Green, Mays and Wilkins on the other was limited to whether the trial court possessed the statutory authority to further increase the recommended sentence by an additional 25%, when the recommended sentence already exceeded the statutory maximum of section 775.082. In Myers, the Fourth District concluded that the trial court did not possess this authority. The Fifth District reached the opposite conclusion in Green, Mays, and Wilkins. 6
The sentencing guidelines constitute a complex and detailed statutory scheme. The initial goal of the sentencing guidelines was to achieve a degree of predictability and uniformity in sentencing. The particular provisions applicable to the analysis here are only a portion of the 1994 revised scheme. The primary goal of the 1994 amendments, as enunciated in the specific statement of legislative intent, was "to emphasize incarceration in the state prison system for violent offenders and nonviolent offenders who have repeatedly committed criminal offenses and have demonstrated an inability to comply with less restrictive penalties previously imposed." § 921.0001, Fla. Stat. (1995). 7
Prior to 1994 amendments, the sentencing guidelines required that all sentences imposed by trial court judges be "within any relevant minimum and maximum sentence limitations provided by statute and must conform to all other statutory provisions." § 921.001(5), Fla. Stat. (1991). Section 775.082 sets forth the mandatory minimum sentences and the statutory maximums for all degrees of felonies and misdemeanors.
The amended version of subsection 921.001(5) provides in pertinent part that:
If a recommended sentence under the guidelines exceeds the maximum sentence otherwise authorized by s. 775.082, the sentence under the guidelines must be imposed, absent a departure.
§ 921.001(5), Fla. Stat. (1995) (emphasis supplied). It is this provision that authorizes the trial court to exceed the statutory maximums of section 775.082, when "a recommended sentence under the guidelines exceeds the maximum."
The determination of the extent of the trial court's authority to exceed the statutory maximum depends, in large part, on whether the term "recommended sentence" in sections 921.001(5) and 921.0014(2) includes the 25% discretionary variation provided for under subsections 921.0014(2) and 921.0016(1)(b).
In Green and Mays, the Fifth District concluded that the term "recommended sentence" included the 25% discretionary range. The Fourth District in Myers construes "recommended sentence" to refer only to the specific sentence as calculated by the scoresheet. 8
Although the term "recommended sentence" is not specifically defined, subsection 921.0014(2) is entitled "recommended sentences." This subsection sets forth incarceration options depending on the total sentence points assessed. Pursuant to this subsection if the total sentence points are greater than 52, the sentence imposed must be a state prison sentence. State prison sentences must be calculated as follows:
State prison months = total sentence points minus 28. 9
The recommended sentence length in state prison months may be increased by up to, and including, 25 per cent or decreased by up to, and including, 25 per cent, at the discretion of the court.... If a recommended sentence under the guidelines exceeds the maximum sentence otherwise authorized by s. 775.092, the sentence recommended under the guidelines must be imposed absent a departure.
§ 921.0014(2). Thus, reading subsection 921.0014(2) in conjunction with 921.001(5), it appears that the term "recommended sentence" refers to a precise number of months--a specific number calculated pursuant to 921.0014(2), not the 25% discretionary range.
This conclusion is...
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