LATSON v. STATE (2025)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Errol LATSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 3D25-1132

Decided: September 24, 2025

Before EMAS, MILLER, and BOKOR JJ.

Errol Latson, in proper person. James Uthmeier, Attorney General, and Jason Michael Ross, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Appellant, Errol Latson, challenges an order denying his motion to correct an illegal sentence filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). His motion asserted that the trial court imposed a vindictive sentence after he failed to accept the plea offer extended to him by the prosecutor shortly before trial. Casting aside the nondiscretionary nature of his life sentence for first-degree murder, we reiterate the proposition that “a claim of vindictive sentencing cannot be raised by a motion to correct illegal sentence under [r]ule 3.800(a).” Morales v. State, 909 So. 2d 478, 478-79 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005) (citing collected cases); see also § 775.082(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2018). Treating Latson's motion as having been filed under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 yields no different result, as we affirmed his convictions and sentences on direct appeal in 2019. See Latson v. State, 276 So. 3d 400 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019). Accordingly, we affirm the order under review.

Affirmed.

MILLER, J.

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