LOZANO v. STATE (2019)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Seledonio LOZANO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Case No. 5D19-565

Decided: August 16, 2019

James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Mark Alexander Williams, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Carmen F. Corrente, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

AFFIRMED.

Appellant was convicted, after a jury trial, of battery—second offense. Based on his significant criminal history, he readily qualified to be sentenced as a habitual felony offender. At sentencing, the trial judge advised Appellant that he was fortunate that he was not being sentenced in China because “if you were in China, they would stand you up and shoot you and then send a bill to your mother for the bullet.”

Appellant argues that these comments suggest that the trial judge was “not courteous, but malicious; not sober but emotional; not impartial, but invested; not wise but injudicious.” Although these comments may have been unnecessary, unhelpful, and injudicious, I agree with the State that they did not reflect an impermissible bias against Appellant.

PER CURIAM.

WALLIS and EISNAUGLE, JJ., concur. EVANDER, C.J., concurs, with opinion.

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