Dunbar v. State Of Fla., Case No. 5D09-1903

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Parties: ANDRE ISAIAH DUNBAR, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
• Docket Number: Case No. 5D09-1903
• Decision Date: 10 September 2010

ANDRE ISAIAH DUNBAR, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

Case No. 5D09-1903

District Court Of Appeal Of The State Of Florida
Fifth District

JULY TERM 2010
Opinion filed September 10, 2010

James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and David S. Morgan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Ann M. Phillips, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County, Bob Leblanc, Judge.

EN BANC

PALMER, J.

Andre Isaiah Dunbar (defendant) appeals his judgments and sentences which were entered by the trial court after a jury found him guilty of committing the crimes of robbery with a firearm¹, two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm², and grand theft.³ The defendant asserts, among other things, that his 10-year mandatory minimum

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sentence for robbery with a firearm must be stricken because the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence was not orally pronounced by the trial court at sentencing. We disagree and affirm.

No dispute exists between the parties concerning the underlying facts in this appeal. The trial court's oral pronouncement of the defendant's sentence was inconsistent with the court's written sentencing order entered later that day: the trial court did not orally pronounce the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence, but the defendant's written sentencing documents state that the defendant must serve a 10-year mandatory minimum on the robbery count.

The imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence under section 775.087(2) of the Florida Statutes is a nondiscretionary duty of a trial court when the record indicates that the defendant qualifies for mandatory minimum sentencing. A trial court must impose the mandatory minimum sentence once a defendant is convicted of an enumerated felony under section 775.087(2), and the failure to do so is reversible error. See Grant v. State, 770 So.2d 655, 658-660 (Fla. 2000); see also State v. Couch, 896 So.2d 799, 800 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005); State v. Parker, 812 So.2d 495, 497 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). Courts have reversed and remanded sentencing orders with instructions requiring the imposition of the mandatory minimum sentence when the trial court departed from the mandatory minimum sentencing requirement. See State v. Scanes, 973 So.2d 659 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008); State...