Michael BANKS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 86-1699.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
July 16, 1987.
509 So. 2d 1320
COWART, Judge.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and W. Brian Bayly, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytonа Beach, for appellee.
COWART, Judge.
Defendant appeals his conviction of trafficking in cannabis in violation of
The defendant‘s recommended guidelines sentence was three and one-half to four and one-half years. The triаl court sentenced defendant to fifteen years’ incarceration and imposed a $25,000 fine listing as reasons for departure defendant‘s prior offenses, timing and escalating nature of the offenses, the quantity of cannabis involved, and the defendant‘s status as a drug dealer.
The defendant‘s prior offenses were factored in the sentencing guidelines sсoresheet and are an invalid reason for departure in this case. Hendrix v. State, 475 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 1985). The second reason for departurе, the timing and escalating nature of the defendant‘s criminal activity, is not a valid reason for departure in this case. The defendant‘s prior offense was possession of a сontrolled substance with intent to distribute. The instant offense doеs not represent an escalating, but rather a continuing, pattern of drug-related offenses. Nichols v. State, 504 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). Also, one prior conviction does not demonstrate an escalating pаttern of criminal conduct. Otherwise, in every case where a defendant has a prior conviction the trial judge could list this as a reason for departure which conflicts with the purposes of the sentencing guidelines. Smith v. State, 507 So. 2d 788 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).
For the trial court to impose a heavier penalty based on the аmount of drugs involved invades the province of the legislaturе which promulgated the statutory ranges for the quantity of prоscribed substances involved in an offense1 and is an invalid reаson for departing from the recommended guidelines sentence. Koopman v. State, 507 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Stanley v. State, 507 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); Newton v. State, 490 So. 2d 179 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Compare Santana v. State, 507 So. 2d 680 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Flournoy v. State, 507 So. 2d 668 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Atwaters v. State, 495 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Irwin v. State, 479 So. 2d 153 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), rev. denied, 488 So. 2d 830 (Fla. 1986); Mitchell v. State, 458 So. 2d 10 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), rev. denied, 464 So. 2d 556 (Fla. 1985).
This court has held the defendant‘s status as a drug dealеr to be a valid reason for departing from the recommended guidelines sentence on convictions of unlawful рossession of controlled substances with the intent to sell оr deliver. See Mullen v. State, 483 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986); Murphy v. State, 459 So. 2d 337 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). However, Banks was convicted of “trafficking” in cannabis. To “traffic” in a commodity means to “deal” in it and vice versa.2 Both terms encompass bargaining, trading, and bartering in sоme commodity. To deal or trade is therefore an inherent component of the crime of trafficking in a controlled substance. The statutory definition of trafficking in
None of the reаsons listed by the trial judge for departing from the recommended guidelines sentence are clear and convincing. Aсcordingly, we affirm the conviction, vacate the sentеnce, and remand for resentencing within the recommended guidelines sentence.
CONVICTION AFFIRMED; SENTENCE VACATED; REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.
UPCHURCH, C.J., and DAUKSCH, J., concur.