Waters v. State
| Decision Date | 31 August 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 85267,85267 |
| Citation | 662 So.2d 332 |
| Parties | 20 Fla. L. Weekly S446 Jesse WATERS, Jr., Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender and P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; James W. Rogers, Tallahassee Bureau Chief/Criminal Appeals and Thomas Crapps, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for respondent.
We have for review the following question certified to be of great public importance:
MUST A TRIAL COURT, UPON REVOCATION OF PROBATION FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF COMMUNITY CONTROL, CREDIT TIME PREVIOUSLY SERVED ON PROBATION AND COMMUNITY CONTROL TO ANY NEWLY IMPOSED TERM OF IMPRISONMENT AND PROBATION FOR THE SAME OFFENSE, SO THAT THE TOTAL PERIOD OF COMMUNITY CONTROL, PROBATION, AND IMPRISONMENT ALREADY SERVED AND TO BE SERVED DOES NOT EXCEED THE STATUTORY MAXIMUM FOR A SINGLE OFFENSE?
Waters v. State, 650 So.2d 232 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, Sec. 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. Consistent with our recent decisions in State v. Roundtree, 644 So.2d 1358 (Fla.1994), and State v. Summers, 642 So.2d 742 (Fla.1994), we answer the certified question in the affirmative.
On June 4, 1991, Jesse Waters, Jr. pled no contest to a charge of purchase of cocaine, a second-degree felony which has a maximum sentence of fifteen years. Secs. 775.082(3)(c); 893.13(1)(a)1., Fla.Stat. (1991). At that time, Waters was placed on community control for one year, to be followed by ten years of probation. In October 1993, an affidavit for violation of probation was filed. Waters admitted the violation in November, 1993. On December 20, 1993, Waters' probation was revoked and he was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to three and one-half years in prison, with credit for 55 days served, to be followed by ten years' probation.
Waters appealed arguing that the new sentence was illegal because when combined with time already spent on community control and probation it exceeds the fifteen-year statutory maximum. The First District Court of Appeal affirmed Waters' sentence, but certified the above question to this Court.
In answering the certified question, we must look to our decisions in Roundtree and Summers. In Summers we held that upon revocation of probation, credit must be given for time previously served on probation toward any newly-imposed probationary term for the same offense, when necessary to ensure that the total term of probation does not exceed the statutory maximum for that offense. 642 So.2d at 743. In Roundtree, we extended this reasoning to community control and held that time spent on probation or community control must be credited to a newly-imposed term of probation for the same offense so that the total term of probation and community control served does not exceed the statutory maximum for an offense. 644 So.2d at 1358-59.
This case is distinguishable from our prior decisions in Roundtree and Summers because Waters was not merely placed on further probation or community control after his probation was revoked. Rather, he was given a probationary split sentence--three and one-half years of prison, to be followed by ten years of probation. See Poore v. State, 531 So.2d 161 (Fla.1988). Thus, we must decide whether the reasoning of Summers and Roundtree should apply on these facts.
We find the First District's handling of the issue in Bragg v. State, 644 So.2d 586 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994), persuasive. In that case, Bragg pled no contest to burglary of a dwelling and was placed on probation. Bragg's probation was revoked twice after a portion of the two terms of probation plus a one-year jail term had been completed. The last time Bragg's probation was revoked, he too was sentenced to a probationary split...
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Young v. State
...on this Court's decisions in State v. Summers, 642 So.2d 742 (Fla.1994), State v. Roundtree, 644 So.2d 1358 (Fla.1994), and Waters v. State, 662 So.2d 332 (Fla.1995), to support his contention that his sentence should be reduced because it exceeds the statutory maximum. Exceeding the statut......
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