Kerney v. State

Sep 11, 1992

91-02343

Versions:605 So. 2d 159

1992 WL 220515

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and Timothy A. Hickey, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Charles Corces, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

PARKER, Judge.

Leon Devince Kerney appeals his designation and sentence as a habitual violent felony offender. The crime for which the trial court sentenced Kerney was attempted manslaughter with a weapon, which resulted in a violent habitual felony offender sentence of thirty years’ imprisonment without eligibility for release for ten years. We reverse and remand for resentencing.

The state noticed Kerney that it intended to treat him as a habitual violent felony offender. The record contains a career criminal prosecution packet evidencing Kerney‘s convictions and sentences to be:

	Conviction	Sentence
1971	Uttering a forged instrument	Probation; revoked in 1972 and sentenced to five years
1976	Robbery	Ten years beginning in 1977
1983	Burglary of a structure (third-degree felony)	Five years
1983	Burglary of a structure (third-degree felony)	Ten years consecutive to above sentence.

The record also contains an affidavit which stated that Kerney was released from custody on June 14, 1990.

Section 775.084(1)(b)2, Florida Statutes (1989) allows the trial court to designate a defendant as a habitual violent felony offender if the person has a conviction for an enumerated violent felony¹ within five years of the commission of the instant offense or has been released from a sentence for an enumerated violent felony within five years from the commission of the instant offense. Kerney committed attempted manslaughter with a weapon on December 19, 1990. The record contains evidence that Kerney had a conviction for one enumerated felony, a robbery, in 1976. There is no evidence in the record before this court that Kerney was released from custody for the robbery within five years of his commission of the instant crime. Burglary of a structure, a crime for which Kerney has been convicted more recently, is not an enumerated felony. Thus, there is insufficient evidence in the record to show that Kerney met the criteria set out in section 775.084(1)(b). This court, therefore, must reverse his designation and sentence as a habitual violent felony offender. Because Kerney failed to object at sentencing, the state on remand shall have the opportunity to prove that Kerney meets the requirements of the statute, either as a habitual violent felony offender or habitual felony offender. See Johnson v. State, 576 So. 2d 916 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991).

Reversed and remanded for a new sentencing hearing consistent with this opinion.

LEHAN, C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur.

Notes

[1] These enumerated violent felonies are arson; sexual battery; robbery; kidnapping; aggravated child abuse; aggravated assault; murder; manslaughter; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; armed burglary; or aggravated battery.