3D2021-2139
The Third DCA held that where a defendant is convicted of two offenses from a single criminal episode, and only one is enhanced beyond the statutory maximum under the habitual offender statutes (HFO/HVFO), the trial court may lawfully order the unenhanced sentence on the remaining offense to run consecutively to the enhanced sentence. The court distinguished Hale v. State (which bars consecutive sentencing of two HFO/HVFO-enhanced sentences) and applied Cotto v. State, clarifying that Hale's prohibition does not extend to a combination of one enhanced and one unenhanced sentence. The court also reversed in part, ordering correction of the written sentence to conform to the oral pronouncement by removing an HVFO designation that was not orally pronounced.
Key facts
- Defendant was convicted of two offenses arising from a single criminal episode, with one offense enhanced beyond the statutory maximum under habitual offender/habitual violent felony offender statutes and one offense remaining unenhanced.
- The trial court imposed consecutive sentences, with the enhanced sentence on one offense running consecutively to the unenhanced sentence on the other offense.
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Why it matters
This opinion resolves a recurring and frequently litigated sentencing question regarding the scope of Hale v. State's bar on consecutive habitual-offender sentences, aligning the Third District with the Second and Fifth… — full analysis with a trial
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