KIRKLAND v. STATE (2021)

On Remand From the Supreme Court Of Florida

The Florida Supreme Court quashed our decision in Kirkland v. State, 273 So. 3d 1194 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019), and remanded for our reconsideration in light of Pedroza v. State, 291 So. 3d 541 (Fla. 2020), cert. denied, ––– U.S. ––––, 141 S. Ct. 341, 208 L.Ed.2d 77 (2020). See Kirkland v. State, 46 Fla. L. Weekly S1, 2020 WL 7311939, at *1 (Fla. Dec. 11 2020)).

In Pedroza, the supreme court held that “a juvenile offender's sentence does not implicate Graham [v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010)], and therefore Miller [v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012)], unless it meets the threshold requirement of being a life sentence or the functional equivalent of a life sentence.” Pedroza, 291 So. 3d at 548. The supreme court in Pedroza approved the Fourth District's affirmance of the denial of resentencing for a juvenile serving a forty-year sentence. Id. at 549.

Kirkland, age fifteen when he committed the crimes at issue, was tried as an adult and received a forty-year prison sentence. See Kirkland v. State, 67 So. 3d 1147, 1148 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). Under Pedroza, a forty-year sentence is not a life sentence or its functional equivalent. This is particularly true in light of sentence reductions available under section 944.275, Florida Statutes (2008). Because Kirkland has not established that this is “a life sentence or the functional equivalent of a life sentence” as required by Pedroza, we affirm. See Pedroza, 291 So. 3d at 549; see also Hart v. State, Nos. 1D13-1754, 1D13-1810, 313 So. 3d 155 (Fla. 1st DCA Dec. 31, 2020) (Nos. 1D13-1754, 1D13-1810) (affirming juvenile's fifty-year sentence as neither a life sentence nor its functional equivalent), petition for review filed, No. SC21-260 (Fla. 2021).

Affirmed.

Per Curiam.

Makar, Kelsey, and Long, JJ., concur.