Travis A. TROTTER, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Supreme Court of Florida.
*363 James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Susan A. Fagan, Assistant Public Defender, Seventh Judicial Circuit, Daytona Beach, FL, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Angela D. McCravy and Kellie A. Nielan, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, FL, for Respondent.
PARIENTE, J.
We have for review the Fifth District Court of Appeal's opinion in Trotter v. State,
BACKGROUND
Petitioner Travis Trotter was charged with trafficking in 28 grams or more of cocaine. See Trotter,
Trotter appealed his sentence, asserting that pursuant to this Court's opinion in Heggs, he was entitled to have his sentence vacated and to be resentenced under the 1994 sentencing guidelines. See Trotter,
On remand, the trial judge who originally sentenced Trotter conducted the resentencing hearing and determined that a sentence imposed under the 1994 guidelines without applying the multiplier "would be insufficient." Id. at 1043. The trial court stated that "the court finds that the 1.5 multiplier is applicable and was applicable at the time of your commission of this offense for trafficking in cocaine." Id. Consequently, the trial court applied the multiplier and imposed a sentence of 72 months' incarceration. See id.
Trotter again appealed his sentence to the Fifth District, contending that the trial *365 court lacked the authority to enhance his sentence by applying the multiplier because, in originally sentencing Trotter, the trial court exercised its discretion and refused to apply the multiplier. See id. The Fifth District rejected Trotter's argument. See id. The Fifth District first explained that a resentencing under Heggs is a de novo sentencing proceeding. See id. Next, the Fifth District expressly disagreed with the Second District's decision in Estrada, which held that the trial court is not authorized to add a discretionary multiplier to a defendant's scoresheet upon a Heggs resentencing when the trial court declined to impose the multiplier during the defendant's original sentencing. See Trotter,
ANALYSIS
Because the issue of whether the imposition of the multiplier on resentencing after a Heggs remand violates Trotter's double jeopardy and due process rights involves pure questions of law, this claim is subject to de novo review. See Demps v. State,
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides: "[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U.S. Const. amend. V. The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Florida Constitution similarly provides: "No person shall ... be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense." Art. I, § 9, Fla. Const. The scope of the Double Jeopardy Clause is the same in both the federal and Florida Constitutions. See Carawan v. State,
In Harris v. State,
This Court rejected the defendant's contention that the imposition of a habitual offender sentence on remand violated double jeopardy, concluding:
Like the United States Supreme Court, we find that the Double Jeopardy Clause is not an absolute bar to the imposition of an increased sentence on remand from an authorized appellate review of an issue of law concerning the original sentence. Harris has not been deprived of any reasonable expectation of finality in his original sentence, nor has he been subject to repeated attempts to convict. We note that the State's cross-appeal in this case involved only a legal issue and not the trial court's discretionary judgment concerning Harris's sentence. The trial court's decision against habitual offender sanctions was not based on the State's failure to carry its burden of persuasion. It was a choice based on the law at the time of the trial judge's decision concerning the circumstances under which a defendant could be habitualized. "[T]he trial court would have originally sentenced Harris as a habitual offender but for the uncertainty in the then state of the law...." Harris,624 So.2d at 280 . The law was clarified by this Court after the initial sentencing and while Harris's case was pending on appellate review. It is now clear that Harris can properly be treated as a habitual offender. We find that Harris had no expectation of finality regarding his sentence where he opened the door to the district court's appellate jurisdiction on an issue of law that was clarified while his case was still pending.
Id. at 388 (emphasis supplied). See also Goene v. State,
In arguing that the trial court lacked the authority to enhance his sentence by applying the multiplier on remand, Trotter relies almost exclusively upon the Second *367 District's decision in Estrada v. State,
First, the drug trafficking multiplier was not mistakenly omitted from Estrada's scoresheet. Rather, the trial court exercised its discretion and declined to impose it. Thus, no error is being perpetrated nor has Estrada received the benefit of a mistake to which he is not entitled. The only benefit Estrada has received is the benefit of the trial court's reasoned decision that the multiplier need not be imposed. Under these circumstances, we conclude that the trial court may not, upon a defendant's motion to correct sentence, choose to add the multiplier. See, e.g., Kingsley v. State,682 So.2d 641 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996) (holding that although points which were mistakenly omitted from a scoresheet may be added when sentencing for a violation of probation, a determination that only slight victim injury occurred may not be altered upon a violation of probation so as to increase the victim injury points); but see Merkt v. State,764 So.2d 865 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (holding that Roberts does not limit trial courts to revising scoresheets in cases where the original scoresheet excluded points as the result of mistake, error, or unintentional omission).
We also note that double jeopardy concerns would come into play in the instant situation if the trial court were to sentence Estrada to a sentence greater than the one he originally received as authorized by the newly prepared 1994 scoresheet. Unlike the situation present in Roberts and other cases involving violations of probation, Estrada is being sentenced for "precisely the same conduct" for which he was originally sentenced, and double jeopardy would therefore prohibit imposition of a greater sentence. See, e.g., Nelson v. State,724 So.2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998).
Id. at 96-97.
We conclude that, in Estrada, the Second District erred in concluding that double jeopardy principles would prevent a trial court from imposing a drug trafficking multiplier upon remand for a Heggs resentencing, where the trial court initially declined to impose the multiplier during the defendant's original sentencing. In Heggs, we held that an individual was entitled to resentencing utilizing the 1994 guidelines if the sentence imposed under the 1995 guidelines could not have been imposed absent a departure.
Although this Court has never expressly held that a resentencing under Heggs is a de novo sentencing proceeding, such a conclusion follows from the fact that the original sentence must necessarily be vacated, and the fact that we have directed that upon remand, the trial court is authorized to resentence the defendant in accordance with the valid laws in effect at the time the defendant committed the offense. Heggs,
We agree with the district courts of appeal that a resentencing pursuant to Heggs is a de novo sentencing proceeding that must comport with constitutional requirements. However, we also agree with the Fifth District in Trotter that if the trial court lawfully could have imposed a multiplier at the time of the original sentencing, then double jeopardy principles are not violated when the trial court on resentencing after a Heggs remand imposes a drug trafficking multiplier, even though the trial court declined to impose the multiplier at the original sentencing.
As in Harris, Trotter was not deprived of any reasonable expectation of finality in his original sentence because he challenged his sentence on appeal on a legal basis; that is, the unconstitutionality of utilizing the 1995 sentencing guidelines under Heggs. The trial court's utilization of the 1995 guidelines for Trotter's original sentence constituted a mistake of law. As the Second District observed in a similar circumstance, the trial court did not have "a crystal ball" to know that subsequent to the imposition of Trotter's sentence, this Court would declare the 1995 sentencing guidelines unconstitutional. Everett v. State,
The trial court in this case originally concluded that the appropriate sentence for Trotter's drug trafficking violation was 83.2 monthsthe sentence suggested by the State. See Trotter,
We next address Trotter's claim of a due process violation in resentencing him utilizing the multiplier. The due process inquiry under North Carolina v. Pearce,
*369 Due process of law, then, requires that vindictiveness against a defendant for having successfully attacked his first conviction must play no part in the sentence he receives after a new trial. And since the fear of such vindictiveness may unconstitutionally deter a defendant's exercise of the right to appeal or collaterally attack his first conviction, due process also requires that a defendant be freed of apprehension of such a retaliatory motivation on the part of the sentencing judge.
In order to assure the absence of such a motivation, we have concluded that whenever a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon a defendant after a new trial, the reasons for his doing so must affirmatively appear. Those reasons must be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding. And the factual data upon which the increased sentence is based must be made part of the record, so that the constitutional legitimacy of the increased sentence may be fully reviewed on appeal.
Id. (emphasis supplied) (footnote omitted). Of course, as Pearce clearly states, the presumption of vindictiveness arises only when a judge imposes a more severe sentence upon resentencing. See id.; Carter v. State,
In this case, the trial court originally sentenced Trotter to 83.2 months' incarceration. On resentencing from the Heggs remand, the trial court applied the multiplier, resulting in a sentence of 72 months' incarceration. Because the sentence imposed on remand was less than the original sentence imposed, we conclude that the presumption of vindictiveness did not arise, and that Trotter has failed to establish a due process violation in this case.
Therefore, for the reasons discussed above, we approve the Fifth District's decision in this case and disapprove the Second District's decision in Estrada to the extent it is inconsistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
ANSTEAD, C.J., and SHAW, HARDING, LEWIS, and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
WELLS, J., concurs in result only.
NOTES
Notes
[1] In Heggs, this Court held that the act containing the 1995 sentencing guidelines was unconstitutional because it violated the single subject rule.
[2] Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.702(d)(14) provides:
If the primary offense is drug trafficking under section 893.135, the subtotal sentence may be multiplied, at the discretion of the sentencing court, by a factor of 1.5.
[3] Trotter did not enter a plea to a specific sentence. See Trotter v. State,
[4] The Court explained that "[a]s a habitual offender Harris will not be subject to the provisions of section 921.001 (sentencing guidelines), chapter 947 (parole), or gain-time granted by the Department of Corrections." Harris,
