From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

State v. McCluster

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District
May 24, 1988
525 So. 2d 434 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1988)

Opinion

No. 87-56.

March 29, 1988. On Rehearing May 24, 1988.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Dade County; Richard V. Margolius, Judge.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Mark S. Dunn, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Beth C. Weitzner, Asst. Public Defender, for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.


The State of Florida has appealed from the sentence imposed upon the defendant herein, alleging the trial court erred in departing downward from the sentencing guidelines based upon the quantity of drugs in the defendant's possession at the time of the offense. The Supreme Court recently held in the case of Atwaters v. State, 519 So.2d 611 (Fla. 1988), that the quantity of drugs may not be utilized as a proper reason to support departure from the sentencing guidelines. Therefore, we reverse the order appealed on the authority of Atwaters v. State, supra, and remand this cause to the trial court for resentencing.

Reversed and remanded.


OPINION ON REHEARING


The petition for rehearing by the appellee correctly points to the record which demonstrates that his guilty plea was in exchange for an adjudication of guilt and a $250 fine. This agreement was worked out with the court over the state's objection. We therefore grant the petition for rehearing and recede from so much of our prior opinion that returned the matter to the trial court for resentencing. The matter will be returned to the trial court to give the defendant the option to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial or to be sentenced upon a plea of guilty in accordance with the sentencing guidelines.

Reversed and remanded with directions.


Summaries of

State v. McCluster

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District
May 24, 1988
525 So. 2d 434 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1988)
Case details for

State v. McCluster

Case Details

Full title:THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT, v. LEON McCLUSTER, APPELLEE

Court:District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District

Date published: May 24, 1988

Citations

525 So. 2d 434 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1988)

Citing Cases

State v. Thomas

Atwaters v. State, 519 So.2d 611, 612 (Fla. 1988). This court has applied the same rule to downward…

State v. Joseph

Since the trial court did not state in a contemporaneous writing its reasons for departure from the…