Coleman v. State, 84-2697
| Decision Date | 02 April 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2697,84-2697 |
| Citation | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 807,486 So.2d 43 |
| Parties | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 807 Ronald Calvin COLEMAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and L.S. Alperstein, Asst. Public Defender, Tampa, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and James A. Young, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Ronald Coleman seeks this court's review of his judgment and sentences for a 1983 charge of delivery of cocaine and a 1984 charge of possession of cocaine.
Appellant alleges that the trial court erred in that he did not affirmatively select sentencing under the guidelines on the 1983 delivery of cocaine conviction. As to the 1984 conviction of possession of cocaine, appellant alleges that the trial court erred in departing from the recommended guidelines sentence without benefit of a guidelines scoresheet and in failing to contemporaneously set forth in writing its reasons for departure. He further alleges that the reasons for departure were invalid.
Appellant was charged with possession and delivery of cocaine on September 6, 1983. Appellant failed to appear for his court dates and a capias was issued. He was arrested on April 4, 1984, on the capias, and incident to the arrest and search of appellant, cocaine was found in his possession. On October 14, 1984, appellant pled guilty to the 1983 charge of delivery of cocaine and to the 1984 charge of possession of cocaine. The court adjudicated appellant guilty of these charges and stated that it was "going outside the guidelines unless the police officers tell me that I should not." Appellant was then sentenced to the maximum period of fifteen years' imprisonment for possession of cocaine and a consecutive term of five years' imprisonment for possession of cocaine.
The record does not reflect that appellant ever elected to be sentenced under the guidelines, and it fails to reflect that the trial judge had available or utilized a guidelines scoresheet at the time he sentenced appellant. The only discussion of the recommended guidelines sentence came in the form of statements by the assistant state attorney who contended that the recommended guidelines sentence was twelve to thirty months' or community control, while the attorney for appellant contended that "the guidelines end up being nonstate prison sanctions rather than controls." The record on appeal is completely devoid of a scoresheet.
Appellee contends that discussion of the guidelines by appellant's counsel evidenced his selection to be sentenced under the guidelines for the 1983 charge of delivery of cocaine. We disagree.
Where the record contains no affirmative selection of the guidelines by appellant, this court has held that a discussion of the recommended guidelines sentence by counsel does not constitute a clear and unequivocal election. Blackwelder v. State, 476 So.2d 280 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Jordan v. State, 460 So.2d 477 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). The record fails to disclose that appellant elected to be sentenced under the guidelines for the 1983 crime of delivery of cocaine, and therefore, we must reverse the sentence and remand...
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Coleman v. State, 86-1659
...belief that the defendant can be rehabilitated." Coleman filed timely notice of appeal. On the prior appeal, Coleman v. State, 486 So.2d 43 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986), this court reversed and remanded for resentencing because there was no indication in the record that Coleman ever affirmatively ele......
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Mixon v. State, s. 85-511
...we must reverse the sentence imposed for the dealing in stolen property conviction and remand for resentencing. See Coleman v. State, 486 So.2d 43 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Adams v. State, 483 So.2d 121 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Ryan v. State, 482 So.2d 558 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Should appellant select t......