HOFFMAN v. STATE (2026)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Gerald Ray HOFFMAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Case No. 5D2025-2803

Decided: June 19, 2026

Gerald Ray Hoffman, Raiford, pro se. James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Samuel Perrone, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Affirmed. See Maye v. State, 51 Fla. L. Weekly S116, No. SC2023-1184, ––– So.3d ––––, ––––, 2026 WL 1346031, at *4 (Fla. May 14, 2026) (noting that Erlinger[¹ ] does not apply retroactively to cases that have become final and that arguments related to Apprendi[² ] are not cognizable under rule 3.800(a)); see also Galindez v. State, 955 So. 2d 517, 522 (Fla. 2007) (holding that the harmless error analysis to be applied to an Apprendi violation is whether the record demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found the fact absent the error).

FOOTNOTES

1. Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821, 144 S.Ct. 1840, 219 L.Ed.2d 451 (2024).

2. Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).

Per Curiam.

Jay, C.J., and Makar and Kilbane, JJ., concur.

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