JONES v. STATE (2020)

Appellant, Justin Lamar Jones, appeals the summary denial of his Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. We reverse because Appellant's motion was facially insufficient, and he has not yet been given an opportunity to amend.

In his motion, Appellant alleged that he rejected a favorable fifteen-year plea offer based on the advice of his trial counsel. He later pled and was sentenced to the State's recommended sentence of twenty years' imprisonment. Although Appellant alleged in his rule 3.850 motion that the accepted plea offer was less favorable than the rejected offer, he failed to allege any deficiency in counsel's performance in advising him to reject the initial plea (for example, that his counsel's advice was unreasonable given the circumstances), see Lamb v. State, 202 So. 3d 118, 120 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016), and similarly, he failed to properly allege prejudice. See Alcorn v. State, 121 So. 3d 419, 430 (Fla. 2013).

As such, we reverse the summary denial and remand with instructions that the trial court grant Appellant an opportunity to amend this claim if he can do so in good faith.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

PER CURIAM.

WALLIS, EISNAUGLE, and HARRIS, JJ., concur.