Waiters v. State
Decision Date | 18 November 2016 |
Docket Number | No. 2D14–4589.,2D14–4589. |
Citation | 210 So.3d 209 |
Parties | Danny WAITERS, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Carol J.Y. Wilson, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Jason M. Miller, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
BY ORDER OF THE COURT:
Appellant's motion for rehearing is denied; the motion for a written opinion is granted. The prior per curiam affirmance dated April 8, 2016, is withdrawn, and the attached opinion is issued in its place. No further motions for rehearing will be entertained.
Danny Waiters appeals from his conviction and sentence for second degree murder.
He raises two issues in this appeal, neither of which require reversal. However, we write to explain why we have affirmed the denial of his motion to correct sentencing error. Waiters, who was seventeen years old when the offense was committed, is serving a forty-year sentence for second-degree murder. He contends that pursuant to Horsley v. State, 160 So.3d 393 (Fla.2015), he was entitled to be sentenced under section 921.1402, Florida Statutes (2014),1 even though his crime was committed before the effective date of the statute. Horsley held that section 921.1402 applies to all juvenile offenders whose sentences are unconstitutional under Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), regardless of when their crimes were committed. Horsley, 160 So.3d at 405–06. Miller held that a mandatory life sentence without parole for juvenile homicide offenders is unconstitutional. 132 S.Ct. at 2469. Because Waiters did not receive a mandatory life sentence without parole, his sentence is not unconstitutional under Miller and he was not entitled to be sentenced under section 921.1402. Moreover, Waiters' forty-year sentence is not a de facto life sentence without parole, see, e.g., Williams v. State, 197 So.3d 569, 572 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) ( ), qualifying him for relief under Landrum v. State, 192 So.3d 459, 469 (Fla.2016) ( ). Accordingly, we affirm the denial of his motion to correct sentencing error.
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Bilotti v. State
...was not entitled to a review of his sentence because he did not receive a life sentence or a de facto life sentence. Waiters v. State, 210 So. 3d 209, 210 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). Our supreme court quashed the decision and remanded the case for resentencing. Waiters v. State, 42 Fla. L. Weekly S......