FLINT v. STATE (2021)

Dennis Lamar Flint appeals his judgments and sentences on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer (counts one and two) and one count each of resisting an officer with violence (count three), battery on a police dog (count four), and possession of a controlled substance (count five). Mr. Flint was sentenced as a habitual felony offender (HFO)¹ to concurrent terms of seven years' prison on counts one, two, and three, with a consecutive five-year prison releasee reoffender (PRR)² sentence on count three; time served on count four; and a concurrent term of five years' prison on count five. As the State has properly conceded, the sentence as to count three, resisting arrest with violence, exceeds the statutory maximum for a third-degree felony under the HFO statute. We therefore reverse the sentence as to count three; we affirm as to the convictions and remaining sentences without discussion.

“A trial court may impose a single sentence pursuant to both the PRR and habitual felony offender (HFO) statutes but the HFO portion of the sentence must be longer than the PRR portion of the sentence.” Atmore v. State, 242 So. 3d 1201, 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018); see also Wallace v. State, 128 So. 3d 139, 140 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013). The trial court did not err in these aspects of the sentence.

However, the maximum sentence for a third-degree felony under the HFO statute is ten years. § 775.084(4)(a)3, Fla. Stat. (2017). Here, the sentence for count three, a third-degree felony, imposes a five-year PRR sentence consecutive to a seven-year HFO sentence, resulting in a term of twelve years. See § 775.082(9)(a)3.d (requiring a five-year minimum mandatory PRR sentence for a third-degree felony); § 775.084(4)(a)3 (allowing an HFO sentence not to exceed ten years for a third-degree felony); § 843.01, Fla. Stat. (2017) (stating that resisting an officer with violence is a third-degree felony).

We therefore reverse the sentence as to count three and remand for the trial court to enter a sentence consistent with the above that does not to exceed ten years. In all other respects, we affirm.

Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded.

FOOTNOTES

1.   § 775.084, Fla. Stat. (2017).

2.   § 775.082.

CASANUEVA, Judge.

SILBERMAN and ATKINSON, JJ., Concur.