Toombs v. State
The Fourth DCA affirmed a 15-year aggregate sentence combining an enhanced HFO sentence on one count with a consecutive unenhanced sentence on another count from the same criminal episode, holding that Cotto v. State limits Hale v. State's prohibition on consecutive enhanced sentences. The court expressly recognized that its own prior precedent, Dawson v. State, has been implicitly overruled by Cotto, aligning with the Second and Fifth Districts.
Key facts
- Toombs was convicted of multiple counts arising from the same criminal episode and received an aggregate 15-year sentence combining an enhanced Habitual Felony Offender (HFO) sentence on one count with a consecutive unenhanced sentence on another count.
- The trial court imposed the consecutive sentences with enhancement applied only to one of the counts from the same criminal episode.
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Why it matters
This opinion resolves lingering confusion in the Fourth District about how Hale and Cotto interact when a trial court enhances only some counts within a single criminal episode as HFO. Practitioners challenging mixed… — full analysis with a trial
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