Williams v. State
In the underlying panel decision, the Fifth DCA held that in an Anders appeal it lacked authority to sua sponte correct a clerical/sentencing error (a missing statutory minimum-mandatory sentence and fine) that benefited the criminal defendant, drawing a distinction between correctable 'scrivener's errors' and uncorrectable 'legal' errors. A judge requested en banc review to resolve the resulting conflict with the court's own recent precedent, but the request failed by less than a majority vote, leaving the panel opinion intact. Judge Makar, joined by three colleagues, dissented at length, arguing the panel opinion directly conflicts with Flowers v. State and Youngblood v. State (both 2024), which had permitted correction of substantively identical errors during Anders review, and that the panel should have sought en banc review before departing from precedent rather than creating an intra-district split by fiat and without party briefing on the issue.
Key facts
- Williams appealed his conviction, and the Fifth District Court of Appeal, conducting Anders review, identified a clerical error in the judgment: a missing statutory minimum-mandatory sentence and fine that would have been imposed against the defendant.
- The panel majority held that appellate courts lack authority to sua sponte correct clerical errors in judgments or sentences that benefit the criminal defendant during Anders review, classifying the missing mandatory-minimum sentence and fine as uncorrectable 'legal' errors rather than correctable 'scrivener's errors.'
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Why it matters
This opinion documents a live, acknowledged intra-district conflict within the Fifth DCA over whether an appellate court performing Anders review may correct sentencing/judgment omissions (missing mandatory minimums or… — full analysis with a trial
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