Barrentine v. State, BK-243

Citation12 Fla. L. Weekly 905,504 So.2d 533
Decision Date01 April 1987
Docket NumberNo. BK-243,BK-243
Parties12 Fla. L. Weekly 905 Mark Franklin BARRENTINE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Michael E. Allen, Public Defender, P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., John W. Tiedemann, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

WENTWORTH, Judge.

Appellant seeks review of his departure sentence upon conviction of lewd and lascivious assault upon a child, in violation of section 800.04, Florida Statutes. Appellant raises two issues on appeal: 1) whether the trial court erred in assessing points on the guidelines scoresheet for victim injury; and 2) whether the trial court erred in departing from the recommended guidelines sentence on the basis of the victim's psychological trauma. We find no error in the trial court's assessment of points for victim injury and we conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, the psychological trauma of the victim was a valid reason for departure. We therefore affirm.

Appellant was charged with lewd and lascivious assault upon a child. Following a jury verdict, he was convicted of the offense and sentenced outside the sentencing guidelines to 10 years incarceration. The recommended guidelines range for the offense was 5 1/2 to 7 years incarceration. As a ground for departure, the trial judge stated:

The defendant's violent physical and sexual assault on a 14 year old boy, unknown to him and enticed into the woods for purposes of the assault, has caused the victim to suffer great and emotional trauma.

In computing the sentencing guidelines scoresheet, the court assessed 20 points for the victim injury category of "contact but no penetration."

When, as in this case, the offense of lewd and lascivious assault involves victim contact, that fact may be scored on the guidelines scoresheet as victim injury. Cf. Moore v. State, 469 So.2d 947 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985); O'Bright v. State, Case No. BL-168 (Fla. 1st DCA March 20, 1987). The information here charged that appellant "did handle, fondle or make an assault" upon the victim and the record supports a finding that appellant did have physical contact with the victim. The trial court thus correctly assessed points for victim injury on the scoresheet.

Psychological trauma suffered by the victim may justify departure from a recommended guidelines sentence except where psychological trauma is necessarily an inherent component of the crime, such departure being improper for trauma from the "well-founded fear" required for...

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6 cases
  • Seagrave v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • 12 de julho de 2001
    ...committing the crime of sexual battery, could be assessed victim impact points for "contact but no penetration."); Barrentine v. State, 504 So.2d 533, 534 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987) (holding that the imposition of victim injury points was proper where defendant was convicted of lewd and lascivious......
  • Johnson v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 24 de maio de 1989
    ...example of a court's separate assessment of points for victim injury in an offense which involved victim injury is Barrentine v. State, 504 So.2d 533 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), reversed on other grounds, 521 So.2d 1093 (Fla.1988). In Barrentine, the first district affirmed a sentence which charge......
  • Jaggers v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 23 de junho de 1987
    ...unlike the instant case, the defendant pled guilty to aggravated child abuse, not lewd and lascivious assault. In Barrentine v. State, 504 So.2d 533 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), appellant was convicted of lewd and lascivious assault upon a child in violation of section, 800.04 Florida Statutes, as ......
  • Allstate Ins. Co. v. Thomas, CIV-87-522-B.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Oklahoma
    • 27 de abril de 1988
    ...of violence or penetration, Florida would also infer an intent to harm and deny coverage. Id. at 611. 3 The Supreme Court of Florida in Barrentine recognized a split in their Courts of Appeals. The First District Court of Appeals in Kokx and Barrentine v. State, 504 So.2d 533 (Fla.Dist.Ct. ......
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