State v. Mancino

• Citation: 714 So.2d 429
• Decision Date: 11 June 1998
• Docket Number: No. 90516,90516
• Parties: 23 Fla. L. Weekly S301 STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Joseph Sal MANCINO, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Florida

Page 429

714 So.2d 429

23 Fla. L. Weekly S301

STATE of Florida, Petitioner, v. Joseph Sal MANCINO, Respondent.

No. 90516.

Supreme Court of Florida.

June 11, 1998.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Robert J. Krauss, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Chief of Criminal Law, and Ronald Napolitano, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Petitioner.

Joseph Sal Mancino, pro se, Sneads, for Respondent.

PER CURIAM.

We have for review the decision in Mancino v. State, 693 So.2d 73 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997), which the district court certified to be in conflict with the opinions in Berry v. State, 684 So.2d 239 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996); Sullivan v. State, 674 So.2d 214 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); and Chaney v. State, 678 So.2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. For the reasons expressed below, we approve Mancino. We hold that a claim of credit for jail time served is cognizable in a rule 3.800 motion to the extent that court records reflect an undisputed entitlement to credit and a sentence that fails to grant such credit.

MATERIAL FACTS

Respondent Joseph Sal Mancino (Mancino) entered pleas of no contest and was sentenced in two cases that involved burglary, dealing in stolen property, armed burglary, possession of burglary tools, and grand theft. Mancino made a rule 3.800(a) motion requesting jail credit, alleging that court records reflected that he was entitled to credit for time spent in county jail but he had not received credit at sentencing. The trial court denied the motion on the ground it was not cognizable under rule 3.800. On appeal, the Second District reversed, holding that rule 3.800 "is a proper vehicle for raising a credit time issue where jail credit can be determined from the court records." Mancino, 693 So.2d at 73.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

We recognize that this issue has been a troubling one to both the trial courts and the district courts. In a thorough analysis, the First District has noted that until very recently there has been little doubt that rule 3.800 could be used to resolve jail credit issues:

It once was well-established that postconviction claims for additional presentencing jail or prison credit could be raised in motions filed pursuant to rule 3.800(a) if the claim could be resolved without an evidentiary hearing through a review of the trial court's records. See, e.g., Jones v. State, 635 So.2d 41, 42-43 (Fla. 1st DCA [1994] ); Carver v. State, 653 So.2d 510 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); Stevens v. State, 651 So.2d 1298, 1299-1300 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995); Rouse v. State, 643 So.2d 1159, 1160 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Handford v. State, 637 So.2d 958 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994); Thomas v. State, 634 So.2d 175, 177 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Thomas v. State, 611 So.2d 600, 601 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). While recognizing, as Judge Altenbernd had pointed out in his en banc opinion in Judge v. State, 596 So.2d 73, 77 (Fla. 2d DCA) (en banc ), review denied, 613 So.2d 5 (Fla.1992), that "[r]ule 3.800(a) is reserved for a narrow class of cases in which the sentence imposed can be described as truly 'illegal' as a matter of law, for example, where the sentence imposed exceeds the statutory maximum sentence for the crime charged," Nowlin v. State, 639 So.2d 1050, 1052 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994); Rouse v. State, 601 So.2d 281, 282 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 604 So.2d 487 (Fla.1992), this court nevertheless took the position that claims for additional presentencing jail or prison credit were exempt from this analysis and specifically held that "a sentence which does not allow for proper credit is an illegal sentence" as defined by the rule. See Jones, 635 So.2d at 42; Rouse, 643 So.2d at 1160; Moorer v. State, 556 So.2d 778, 779 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); see also Sanders v. State, 579 So.2d 326, 326 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (noting that "a claim by a defendant that he did not receive all of his jail time credit attacks the sentence as being illegal and ... can be raised at any time"); Martin v. State, 525 So.2d 901, 902 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (opinion on rehearing) (reading the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in Daniels[v. State, 491 So.2d 543 (Fla. 1986)] to mean that "a sentence is illegal if it fails to allow a defendant credit on all concurrent sentences for all of the time spent in the county jail before sentencing"). Until July 1995, this remained the state of the law on postconviction claims for additional presentencing jail or prison credit raised in 3.800(a) motions.

Vanderblomen v. State, 709 So.2d 144, 145 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998) (footnote omitted). The issue has also been brought into focus by Judge Altenbernd at the Second District:

From reviewing many sentencing transcripts, it is clear to me that trial judges use several different procedures to determine jail credit at sentencing. Some court files contain a detailed log of jail credit and others have little or no information about time served in the local county jail. Time served in jails outside the county is rarely documented in the court file. At sentencing hearings, judges are often forced to make a quick "guesstimate" of jail credit with assistance from the defendant and counsel. The 150 days awarded in this case probably is such an approximation. When the trial court guesses low, invariably the defendant discovers this error while in prison and files a motion requesting relief.

At this time, there is no adequate statewide source of information to help the trial judge make this calculation, and there is no adequate review procedure for the prisoner. The issue is rarely preserved for review by direct appeal. The majority is correct that, at least in theory, this issue can be raised by the defendant's attorney prior to appeal in a motion pursuant to the new rule 3.800(b). Unless the public defenders who handle cases at trial significantly modify their procedures, however, they will not discover these errors within the rule's 30-day period. If rule 3.800(b) is the only method to correct these errors, then trial courts will soon see a flood of motions alleging ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to investigate jail credit and to file a timely motion.

This court has consistently held that some jail credit issues may be addressed by a rule 3.800(a) motion. See Street v. State, 693 So.2d 695 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); Swyck v. State, 693 So.2d 618 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); review granted, No. 90,358, 699 So.2d 1376 (Fla. Sept.5, 1997); Thomas, 611 So.2d 600. I continue to believe there are some errors involving jail credit that result in illegal sentences which can be resolved without a factual hearing based on the contents of the court file. I acknowledge that many jail credit issues do not fall within the very narrow definition of "illegal sentence" employed by the supreme court when examining a sentencing guidelines departure in Davis v. State, 661 So.2d 1193 (Fla.1995). On the other hand, incorrect calculations on a sentencing guidelines scoresheet may be corrected pursuant to rule 3.800(a), even if those calculations do not cause the sentence to be "illegal" under the Davis definition. Thus, a prisoner who is erroneously sentenced to 48 months', rather than 44 months', imprisonment because of a facially apparent error on the scoresheet is entitled to relief under rule 3.800(a), even though the maximum legal sentence is 60 months. If a comparable mathematical error is made on the face of a prisoner's record in calculating jail credit, I think common fairness, if not due process, requires that the State concede its error and correct the sentence "at any time." See Richardson v. State, 698 So.2d 551 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (Allen, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

Nevertheless, rule 3.800(a) is far from an adequate tool to review most jail credit errors. Many, if not most, jail credit issues do not appear on the face of the record available to the trial court. Either the trial court does not have access to the jail records described by the prisoner or the prisoner is claiming a factual error in those records. There is no valid reason to allow such factual issues to be raised at any time in an unsworn motion.

Thus, rule 3.850 currently provides the best procedure for a prisoner to resolve jail credit issues because it allows for a sworn pleading and the orderly resolution of factual disputes relating to sentencing. These motions, however, cannot be filed during the pendency of an appeal. At least in this district, with our public defender's backlog, unless the defendant chooses to forego his or her constitutional right to appeal, it will be difficult for the trial court to resolve a factual issue relating to jail credit before the prisoner fully serves any sentence that is less than 3 years' imprisonment. Even if the trial I do not profess to be an expert on the best methods to record and calculate jail credit. I do know, however, that the Department of Corrections already calculates prison credit when a trial judge checks the box for prison credit on the written sentence. In this computer age, the legislature could authorize the Department to obtain statewide records for use in all cases. I believe the trial court should at least have the option of allowing the Department to calculate jail credit in complex cases. This certainly would be better than forcing trial judges to scribble calculations while reciting "thirty days hath September" at every sentencing hearing.

court manages to reach the issue in time, a delayed evidentiary hearing is a highly inefficient method to resolve jail credit problems.

If it is not feasible for the legislature to delegate this task to the Department, then the supreme court should consider the creation of a specific rule of procedure to allow these matters to be processed in the trial courts and reviewed on appeal in a timely and efficient manner.

Chojnowski v. State, 705 So.2d 915, 917-19 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997) (Altenbernd, J., concurring specially); see also Richardson v. State, 698 So.2d 551 (Fla. 1st DCA...