State v. Wiita, 98-2248.
Decision Date | 10 November 1999 |
Docket Number | No. 98-2248.,98-2248. |
Citation | 744 So.2d 1232 |
Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Bruce Brian WIITA, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Sarah B. Mayer, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
James K. Green of James K. Green, P.A., West Palm Beach, and Richard G. Lubin of Lubin and Gano, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
We deny the motion for rehearing and rehearing en banc but withdraw our prior opinion and substitute the following in its place.
Appellant, the State of Florida ("the state"), appeals from an Order Granting Defendant's Sworn Motion to Vacate Sentence. Because we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by entering the Order, we affirm.
On June 13, 1991, the state filed an information that charged Bruce Wiita ("Wiita") with three counts of lewd assault and three counts of sexual activity with a child. On June 24, 1991, Wiita pled guilty to one count of lewd assault and one count of sexual activity with a child pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. The plea agreement provided that the state would nolle prosse all of the other counts, that adjudication would be withheld, and that Wiita would be sentenced to ten years probation. The plea agreement further provided that Wiita: would pay for the victim's medical and psychological counseling costs up to $5,000; would receive a psychological evaluation and treatment as recommended; would have no contact with the victim; would have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of eighteen years, except his own, until his psychologist approved; would complete 500 hours community service within the first five years of his probation; and that probation could terminate after seven years if all conditions had been satisfied and his psychologist approved.
On October 1, 1997, section 943.0435 of the Florida Statutes was enacted. Section 943.0435, which is retroactive in nature, requires persons convicted of sexual offenses to report to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Wiita complied with the reporting requirements of section 943.0435, and FDLE subsequently posted his name and photograph on the Internet as a sexual offender. On June 4, 1998, Wiita filed a motion to vacate his sentence and/or preclude his compliance with section 943.0435, Florida Statutes (1997). Wiita claimed that because section 943.0435 was not in effect at the time he entered his plea agreement, the reporting and publication requirements of the statute were neither contemplated nor made a part of his plea agreement. Based upon these facts, Wiita argued that good cause existed to vacate his plea because it was not entered knowingly or voluntarily.
The trial court found that Wiita did not enter his guilty plea with an understanding of the full consequences of the plea. Thus, the trial court held Wiita's plea was not freely and voluntarily entered. The Order Granting Defendant's Sworn Motion to Vacate Sentence was entered, which also stated that Wiita was no longer subject to the provisions of section 943.0435.
At the hearing on the motion, Wiita testified that he had bargained for anonymity in exchange for his guilty plea. The pertinent testimony was as follows:
The state presented no witnesses or documentary evidence to contradict Witta's sworn testimony. The state had available to it the transcript of the plea colloquy conducted by the original sentencing judge but failed to offer it as evidence of the voluntary nature of Witta's plea.
rev. denied, 722 So.2d 192 (Fla.), and cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 119 S.Ct. 624, 142 L.Ed.2d 563 (1998); Springfield v. State, 443 So.2d 484 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984).
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