Hopper v. State, 84-1169
| Decision Date | 22 February 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-1169,84-1169 |
| Citation | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 492,465 So.2d 1269 |
| Parties | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 492 William Earl HOPPER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and William H. Pasch, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Karla J. Staker, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
The appellant, William E. Hopper, appeals from a four and one-half year sentence for armed burglary. We reverse and remand for resentencing.
Appellant was sentenced on May 17, 1984. The guidelines scoresheet initially presented to the trial court reflected a total of eighty points and a recommended sentence of three years imprisonment. Rather than accepting this point total and sentencing appellant accordingly, the court, apparently relying upon amended rule 3.701, Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, considered a recalculated point total of ninety-two points. The court then sentenced appellant to four and one-half years imprisonment.
Armed burglary is a first-degree felony punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment. § 810.02(2)(b), Fla.Stat. (1983). The guidelines category-five burglary scoresheet in effect at the time appellant was sentenced provided point assessments for a life felony and a first-degree felony, but did not assess separate points for a first-degree felony punishable by life imprisonment. The original scoresheet correctly scored appellant's armed burglary charge as a first-degree felony, Vileta v. State, 454 So.2d 792 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), and correctly assessed four points against him under the prior record category.
Under amended rule 3.701, the recalculated scoresheet would also have been correct. The amended rules assess additional points for a first-degree felony punishable by life imprisonment and also provide additional points for more than four misdemeanors under the prior record category. The amended rule did not become applicable, however, until July 1, 1984. Ch. 84-328, § 3, Laws of Fla. 1 ; The Florida Bar: Amendment to Rules of Criminal Procedure, 451 So.2d 824 (Fla.1984). Since appellant was sentenced prior to July 1, 1984, and the amended rules may not be applied retroactively, the court erred to the extent it considered the recalculated scoresheet. Frazier v. State, 463 So.2d 458 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Carter v. State, 452 So.2d 953 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984).
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Huffman v. State
...The fact that life is a possible penalty in such cases would not ipso facto justify scoring them as life felonies. Cf. Hopper v. State, 465 So.2d 1269 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 475 So.2d 696 Second, the supreme court has drawn a clear distinction between "capital crimes," i.e., those puni......
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Miller v. State, 84-2188
...rehearing. In doing so, we would like to comment on two cases dealing with the amendments to the sentencing guidelines. Hopper v. State, 465 So.2d 1269 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), and Frazier v. State, 463 So.2d 458 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), involved situations where the trial court applied the amendment......
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Miller v. State, 87-2793
...valid grounds for departing from the recommended guideline sentence, either before or after the decision in Miller. Hopper v. State, 465 So.2d 1269 (Fla. 2d DCA), petition for review denied, 475 So.2d 696 (Fla.1985). However, for the same reasons underlying our decision in Dupont, we believ......
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State v. Hopper
...696 475 So.2d 696 State v. Hopper (William Earl) NO. 66,857 Supreme Court of Florida. JUL 30, 1985 Appeal From: 2d DCA 465 So.2d 1269 Pet. for rev. ...