Blackshear v. State

Citation531 So.2d 956,13 Fla. L. Weekly 586
Decision Date29 September 1988
Docket NumberNo. 71440,71440
Parties13 Fla. L. Weekly 586 Randall Scott BLACKSHEAR, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Florida

Michael E. Allen, Public Defender and P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Asst. Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Edward C. Hill, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.

GRIMES, Justice.

We agreed to review Blackshear v. State, 513 So.2d 174 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), because of apparent conflict with Herring v. State, 411 So.2d 966 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). Our jurisdiction is predicated on article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution.

This case involves an application of the principle of North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 725-26, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 2080-81, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), in which the United States Supreme Court said:

Due process of law, then, requires that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. And since the fear of such vindictiveness may unconstitutionally deter a defendant's exercise of the right to appeal or collaterally attack his first conviction, due process also requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge.

In order to assure the absence of such a motivation, we have concluded that whenever a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon a defendant after a new trial, the reasons for his doing so must affirmatively appear. Those reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding. And the factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made part of the record, so that the constitutional legitimacy of the increased sentence may be fully reviewed on appeal.

(Footnote omitted.)

With this rationale in mind, we now turn to the instant case. Randall Scott Blackshear pled guilty to charges of armed sexual battery and armed kidnapping and received two concurrent sixty-five-year sentences. Both crimes were life felonies which were punishable by either life imprisonment or a term of years not exceeding forty years. § 775.082(3)(a), Fla.Stat. (1983). On appeal, Blackshear's sentences were reversed and his case remanded for resentencing because the sentencing judge had exceeded the forty-year maximum by twenty-five years. Blackshear v. State, 480 So.2d 207 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). At Blackshear's resentencing, the recommended guidelines range was twelve to seventeen years. The trial judge instead departed from the guidelines and imposed two concurrent life sentences. In the case under review, the district court of appeal held that one of the two reasons for departure was invalid. Because the appellate court was unable to conclude that the same sentence would have been given in the absence of the invalid reason, the case was remanded once again for resentencing.

The district court of appeal also concluded that the principle of North Carolina v. Pearce would not preclude a resentencing to two concurrent...

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42 cases
  • Wemett v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • 30 Agosto 1990
    ...the guidelines. But on the authority of North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), and Blackshear v. State, 531 So.2d 956 (Fla.1988), it reversed the imposition of concurrent life sentences as being a more severe sanction than the combined term of years im......
  • Rodriguez v. State, 3D04-1277.
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • 21 Diciembre 2005
    ...Smith, 490 U.S. 794, 799-803, 109 S.Ct. 2201, 2205-07, 104 L.Ed.2d 865 (1989); Wemett v. State, 567 So.2d 882 (Fla.1990); Blackshear v. State, 531 So.2d 956 (Fla.1988). In the instant case, the sentences imposed upon remand are consecutive and, thus, are harsher than the original oral sente......
  • Bover v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 28 Abril 1999
    ...intent by substituting consecutive five-year sentences for concurrent ten-year habitual offender sentences. See Blackshear v. State, 531 So.2d 956, 958 (Fla. 1988); Fasenmyer v. State, 457 So.2d 1361, 1365 (Fla.1984); Herring v. State, 411 So.2d 966, 967 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)(implicitly approv......
  • Wilson v. State, 88-2533
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 13 Septiembre 1989
    ...509 So.2d 281 (Fla.1987); Blackshear v. State, 513 So.2d 174 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), approved in part, quashed on other grounds, 531 So.2d 956 (1988). Cf. Harris v. State, 531 So.2d 1349 (Fla.1988); Hall v. State, 517 So.2d 692 (Fla.1988); Casteel v. State, 498 So.2d 1249 (Fla.1986); Smith v. ......
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