State v. Sesler
| Decision Date | 23 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-319,80-319 |
| Citation | 386 So.2d 293 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Carnell SESLER, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Michael Kotler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Jack O. Johnson, Public Defender, and P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellee.
The state contends that the trial court erred in refusing to impose the mandatory three-year minimum sentence upon Sesler under Section 775.087(2), Florida Statutes (1979). We agree.
In September of 1979, the state charged Sesler with aggravated battery. A jury found him guilty of aggravated assault with a firearm, a lesser-included offense of aggravated battery. The court withheld adjudication and ordered a presentence investigation. At the sentencing hearing, the state requested that the court sentence Sesler pursuant to Section 775.087(2). The court declined, explaining that because the victim had been partially at fault, it would be a "miscarriage of justice" to imprison Sesler for three years. The court then placed Sesler on five years probation. The court erred because Section 775.087(2) clearly requires a trial court to sentence a defendant convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm to a minimum of three years in prison. See D'Alessandro v. Shearer, 360 So.2d 774 (Fla.1978); State v. Opitz, 357 So.2d 469 (Fla.2d DCA 1978).
While we recognize the problems inherent in the uniform imposition of a minimum sentence, this area is a matter of legislative prerogative and is nondiscretionary. Accordingly, we have no alternative but to remand to the trial court with directions to vacate the prior sentence and impose sentence as required by Section 775.087(2), Florida Statutes (1979).
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Nova v. State, 82-1766
...the Legislature has prescribed a mandatory sentence, a trial court is not empowered to impose any lesser sentence. State v. Sesler, 386 So.2d 293, 294 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980); see also State v. De La Rosa, 414 So.2d 26 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); State v. Taylor, 411 So.2d 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). Of co......
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Van Buren v. State, 86-2255
...the original sentence has already begun and the sentence as corrected would be more onerous. Llerena. For example, in State v. Sesler, 386 So.2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), we entertained an appeal by the state from a sentence of probation imposed for the offense of aggravated assault with a fi......
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State v. Davis, 93-2835
...in imposing a three-year minimum mandatory sentence once a defendant is convicted of certain enumerated felonies. See State v. Sesler, 386 So.2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980) (imposition of minimum sentence is a matter of legislative prerogative and is nondiscretionary). Moreover, the requirement ......
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Blanton v. State, 78-2518
...available as to the alleged unfairness of the mandatory sentence imposed, rests with the legislature and not the courts. State v. Sesler, 386 So.2d 293 (Fla.2d DCA 1980). As to the issue of enhancement, it is clear that the two subsections of Section 775.087 serve two different functions. S......