Spear v. State
On remand from the Florida Supreme Court, the Fifth District reversed its own prior affirmance and held that the trial court's sua sponte amended judgments—entered after direct appeal to correct overreported jail and prison credit—were untimely under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b). The court reinstated the original (overreported) credit amounts from resentencing, and a concurring opinion urged trial courts to separate jail and prison credit calculations and defer prison credit computation to the Department of Corrections to avoid such errors.
Key facts
- Spear was sentenced and awarded jail and prison credits that were later determined to be overreported in amount.
- The trial court sua sponte amended the judgments after the direct appeal concluded to correct the overreported credit amounts.
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Why it matters
This opinion is useful to practitioners because it reinforces and applies the Florida Supreme Court's holding distinguishing illegal sentences (correctable anytime under 3.800(a)) from mere sentencing errors like… — full analysis with a trial
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