Dixon v. Brown
The First DCA affirmed a mandamus order requiring the Department of Corrections to restore incentive gain time it had removed from Franchot Brown, a juvenile murderer resentenced to a term of years under the 2014 juvenile sentencing law after Miller v. Alabama. Applying the Eleventh Circuit's Knuck/Metheny framework, the majority held the 1994 version of section 944.275(4) was ambiguous as applied to capital offenders and that the Department's original (pre-2016) interpretation awarding gain time was reasonable, so the Department's later reversal of that interpretation violated the Ex Post Facto Clause. Chief Judge Osterhaus concurred on a different rationale (finding the statute unambiguous but favoring Brown), while Judge Long dissented, arguing the agency action was not an exercise of delegated legislative power and that the statute was unambiguous against Brown, and would have reversed.
Key facts
- Franchot Brown, a juvenile murderer, was originally sentenced to death but resentenced to a term of years under Florida's 2014 juvenile sentencing law following Miller v. Alabama.
- The Department of Corrections originally awarded Brown incentive gain time under section 944.275(4)(b) but in 2016 reversed its interpretation and removed the previously earned gain time.
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Why it matters
This decision addresses a narrow but recurring issue affecting juvenile offenders convicted of capital murder between January 1994 and October 1995 who were later resentenced to term-of-years sentences under the 2014… — full analysis with a trial
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