Forehand v. State
| Decision Date | 12 January 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 72370,72370 |
| Citation | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 26,537 So.2d 103 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 26 Roy Lynn FOREHAND, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Michael E. Allen, Public Defender and Nancy L. Showalter, Asst. Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Kurt L. Barch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.
In Forehand v. State, 524 So.2d 1054 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), the district court certified two questions of great public importance regarding sentencing guidelines. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4) of the state constitution.
After a nonjury trial, the court found Forehand guilty of sexual battery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated assault with a firearm, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. Forehand had previously been convicted of murder in Texas and had been sentenced to a term of two to eighteen years. On the sentencing guidelines scoresheet the state scored the Texas murder conviction as a life felony, and the two hundred sixty-four points for that offense raised Forehand's recommended sentence to life imprisonment. Forehand did not object to this scoring at sentencing. On appeal he argued that too many points had been assigned to the Texas conviction because the sentence he received showed that that conviction could not have been for a life felony. The district court disagreed and held that the elements of an out-of-state crime, not the sentence imposed, determine whether an analogous Florida statute exists. The court then certified the following question:
IN DETERMINING THE ANALOGOUS OR PARALLEL FLORIDA STATUTE FOR THE PURPOSE OF SCORING PRIOR FEDERAL, FOREIGN, MILITARY OR OUT-OF-STATE CONVICTIONS, SHOULD A REVIEWING COURT BASE ITS DETERMINATION ON THE DEGREE OF CRIME IMPOSED AND THE SENTENCE RECEIVED IN THE FOREIGN STATE OR SHOULD A REVIEWING COURT DETERMINE THE ANALOGOUS OR PARALLEL FLORIDA STATUTE BY ASCERTAINING THE ELEMENTS OF THE FOREIGN CONVICTION, DETERMINING WHETHER FLORIDA CONSIDERS SUCH ACTIONS TO BE CRIMINAL AND, IF SO, CATEGORIZING AND SCORING THE FOREIGN CONVICTION AS THE ANALOGOUS OR PARALLEL FLORIDA CRIME WOULD BE CATEGORIZED AND SCORED?
We agree with the district court that the elements of the subject crime, not the stated degree or the sentence received, control in determining whether there is a Florida statute analogous to an out-of-state crime. The various jurisdictions may choose to punish the same acts differently, so the elements of a crime are the surest way to trace that crime.
After disposing of the first issue, the district court went on to hold that Forehand's failure to object to his scoresheet at sentencing precluded appellate review because no error is apparent on the face of the record. The court then certified a second question:
ON APPEAL, IF A DEFENDANT CONTESTS THE DEGREE OF CRIME ASSIGNED TO A PRIOR CONVICTION FOR SCORESHEET PURPOSES, BUT A REVIEW OF THE RECORD DOES NOT...
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Erickson v. State
...in the determination of whether there is a Florida statute analogous to the statute proscribing the out-of-state crime. Forehand v. State, 537 So.2d 103 (Fla.1989), aff'g 524 So.2d 1054 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). See also Rotz v. State, 521 So.2d 355 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988). Included in the defendant......
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...the court must examine the elements of the out-of-state offense. Forehand v. State, 524 So.2d 1054 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), approved, 537 So.2d 103 (Fla.1989); Armontrout v. State, 503 So.2d 984 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987). We note that there is no record objection to the scoring of the New York offens......
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