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Brown v. State

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA
Apr 23, 2021
315 So. 3d 795 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2021)

Summary

affirming postconviction court's order denying juvenile offender's rule 3.800 motion challenging his sentence of forty years’ imprisonment because "this is not the functional equivalent of a life sentence"

Summary of this case from Nugent v. State

Opinion

No. 1D18-4888

04-23-2021

Donta BROWN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Glen P. Gifford, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Tabitha Herrera, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.


Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Glen P. Gifford, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Tabitha Herrera, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

ON REMAND FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA

Per Curiam.

On December 11, 2020, the Florida Supreme Court quashed our decision in this case and remanded the matter for reconsideration in light of its decision in Pedroza v. State , 291 So. 3d 541 (Fla. 2020). In Pedroza , the supreme court held that "a juvenile offender's sentence does not implicate Graham [v. Florida , 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010) ], and therefore Miller [v. Alabama , 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012) ], unless it meets the threshold requirement of being a life sentence or the functional equivalent of a life sentence." Id. at 548.

Appellant was sentenced to 40 years’ incarceration when he was 16 years old. We conclude that this is not the functional equivalent of a life sentence. See id. at 543, 549 (holding that Pedroza's forty-year sentence was not "a life sentence or the functional equivalent of a life sentence"); see also Hart v. State , 313 So.3d 155 (Fla. 1st DCA Dec. 31, 2020). Accordingly, Appellant is not entitled to be resentenced, and the trial court did not err in denying his motion to correct illegal sentence.

AFFIRMED .

Lewis, Osterhaus, and M.K. Thomas, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Brown v. State

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA
Apr 23, 2021
315 So. 3d 795 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2021)

affirming postconviction court's order denying juvenile offender's rule 3.800 motion challenging his sentence of forty years’ imprisonment because "this is not the functional equivalent of a life sentence"

Summary of this case from Nugent v. State
Case details for

Brown v. State

Case Details

Full title:DONTA BROWN, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

Court:FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA

Date published: Apr 23, 2021

Citations

315 So. 3d 795 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2021)

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