Downs v. State, Case No. 2D19-2323
Decision Date | 17 June 2020 |
Docket Number | Case No. 2D19-2323 |
Citation | 298 So.3d 118 |
Parties | James Earl DOWNS, DOC #762100, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Earl Downs appeals the postconviction court's order denying his motion to correct illegal sentence. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(a). We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A). We affirm, but on a rationale different than that used by the postconviction court. See City of Clearwater v. Sch. Bd. of Pinellas Cty., 905 So. 2d 1051, 1057 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) . We write to explain.
The State charged Mr. Downs with battery on a law enforcement officer (count 1), kidnapping (count 2), and escape (count 3). The offenses occurred in 1992. A jury found him guilty as charged on counts 1 and 3, and guilty on count 2 of false imprisonment, a lesser included offense. The trial court sentenced Mr. Downs as a habitual felony offender (HFO) to ten years’ imprisonment on counts 1 and 2, and thirty years’ imprisonment on count 3, with all counts to run consecutively.
Mr. Downs raised a single claim in his 2015 rule 3.800(a) motion. Specifically, he complained that his sentences are illegal because he received consecutive HFO sentences for offenses arising from the same criminal episode. See Claycomb v. State, 142 So. 3d 916, 917 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) . Mr. Downs insisted that the exhibits attached to his motion demonstrated his entitlement to relief. The exhibits included the written judgment and sentences, as well as several amended informations. Mr. Downs submitted no trial transcripts or other record evidence.
The postconviction court denied the motion. It concluded that Mr. Downs’ Hale claim was untimely; it "should have been filed within two years of issuance of the mandate in State v. Callaway, 658 S[o]. 2d 983 (Fla. 1995)." See Dixon v. State, 730 So. 2d 265, 265-66, 269 (Fla. 1999) ( ). Mr. Downs filed a timely rehearing motion, which the postconviction court dismissed as unauthorized, while also denying relief on the merits.
"We review the denial of a rule 3.800(a) motion de novo." Williams v. State, 244 So. 3d 1173, 1175 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018).
At the outset, we point out that Mr. Downs’ rehearing motion was authorized. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(b)(1)(B) ( ); Bamber v. State, 995 So. 2d 624, 624 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (). This observation is of no consequence because the postconviction court also denied rehearing on the merits.
As to the merits of Mr. Downs’ claim, a postconviction motion alleging a Hale claim must have been filed by August 16, 1997. Dixon, 730 So. 2d at 269 (). However, Callaway does not "irretrievably foreclose relief from consecutively-imposed habitual offender sentences growing out of the same criminal episode by means of rule 3.800 [ (a) ]." Adams v. State, 755 So. 2d 678, 680 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999).
The postconviction court overlooked the case law from this court, and others, recognizing a Hale claim, not only in the context of rule 3.850, but also when relief is sought pursuant to rule 3.800(a), under which redress may be pursued at any time. See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(a) (); Cappelletti v. State, 189 So. 3d 1052, 1053 n.1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (); Sult v. State, 42 So. 3d 867, 869 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010) () ; Harris v. State, 875 So. 2d 735, 736 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) () ; Wachter v. State, 868 So. 2d 629, 630 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) ; Davis v. State, 784 So. 2d 1205, 1205-06 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (); Taylor v. State, 969 So. 2d 489, 490 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007) ( .
The postconviction court erred in denying Mr. Downs’ claim as untimely. However, a criminal defendant "who files a 3.800(a) claim that his consecutive habitual offender sentences are in violation of Hale must not only allege that the claim is determinable from the face of the record, but must identify with particularity the record documents upon which he relies in seeking a determination of the claim." Wachter, 868 So. 2d at 630 ; Speas v. State, 887 So. 2d 416, 418 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (); see, e.g., Hollins v. State, 231 So. 3d 6, 7 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) () ; see also Theophile v. State, 967 So. 2d 948, 949 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007) ; Lauramore, 949 So. 2d at 308 ( .
Mr. Downs’ motion fails to satisfy the demanding standard required by the cases cited. Primarily, Mr. Downs does not explain how the exhibits submitted with his motion demonstrate that his crimes were committed in the same criminal episode. See Jackson v. State, 803 So. 2d 842, 844-45 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) ( ); Pullins v. State, 777 So. 2d 451, 451-52 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001) ( ). Although, "[a] defendant is not required to cite exact page numbers; he or she must ... ‘identify with particularity the nonhearsay record documents upon which he [or she] relies.’ " Swanson v. State, 98 So. 3d 194, 195 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) ( )(quoting Speas, 887 So. 2d at 418 )).
Moreover, the exhibits are not competent evidence. The Florida Supreme Court has held...
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