ST OURS v. STATE (2020)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Nathan A. ST. OURS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Case No. 5D19-2904

Decided: May 15, 2020

David Maldonado, of The Maldonado Law Firm, P.A., Lakeland, for Appellant. Nathan A. St. Ours, Milton, pro se. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

Nathan St. Ours pleaded no contest to robbery and resisting an officer without violence. His sentence conformed to the negotiated plea agreement and is lawful except for the assessment of a $100 cost of investigation.

The State did not request the $100 assessment, and the Legislature did not intend for the imposition of an arbitrary amount of costs. § 938.27(1), Fla. Stat. (2019).

We remand with directions that the trial court enter an amended costs judgment that does not include the $100 cost of investigation assessment.¹ See Chambers v. State, 217 So. 3d 210, 214 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017).

AFFIRMED; REMANDED with directions.

FOOTNOTES

1. The Florida Supreme Court has made it clear that when the State fails to request investigation costs before the trial court enters its judgment, the State's opportunity to request such costs has passed, and the trial court may not impose that assessment on remand. Richards v. State, 288 So. 3d 574, 577 (Fla. 2020).

PER CURIAM.

COHEN, WALLIS and GROSSHANS, JJ., concur.

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