Case Title: Williams v. State

Citation: 504 So. 2d 392

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1987-03-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
504 So. 2d 392 (1987)
Jessie WILLIAMS, III, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. 68505.

Supreme Court of Florida.
March 19, 1987.
Michael E. Allen, Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Glenna Joyce Reeves, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Jr., Atty. Gen., Henri C. Cawthon, Raymond L. Marky, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.
EHRLICH, Justice.
We have for review a sentencing guidelines decision, Williams v. State, 484 So. 2d 71 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), because of apparent conflict with this Court's decision in Hendrix v. State, 475 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 1985). We have jurisdiction, article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution and approve the decision below.
Williams pled guilty to aggravated battery and burglary of a dwelling with an assault. The trial judge departed from the presumptive guidelines range of four and one-half to five and one-half years, imposing two ten-year concurrent terms. The trial judge gave the following written reasons for departure:
On appeal, the district court affirmed the departure sentence, rejecting Williams argument that the trial judge's departure was based solely upon his prior criminal record, contrary to this Court's decision in Hendrix. The district court correctly noted that under this Court's decision in Weems v. State, 469 So. 2d 128 (Fla. 1985), Williams' juvenile record constituted a clear and convincing reason for departure.[*]
We also agree with the district court that the trial court's description of Williams' "frequent contacts with the criminal justice system [was] something substantially more than a mere reference to the defendant's prior criminal record." 484 So. 2d  at 72. In Keys v. State, 500 So. 2d 134 (Fla. 1986), we recently rejected the argument that a trial judge's consideration of a defendant's "escalating course of criminal conduct" was nothing more than consideration of a defendant's prior criminal history contrary to Hendrix. Hendrix precludes reliance upon only those aspects of a defendant's prior criminal record which have been factored in for scoring purposes. See Hendrix, 475 So. 2d  at 1220. Neither the continuing and persistent pattern of criminal activity nor the timing of each offense in relation to prior offenses and release from incarceration or supervision are aspects of a defendant's prior criminal history which are factored in to arrive at a presumptive guidelines sentence. Therefore, there is no prohibition against basing a departure sentence on such factors.
We also reject Williams' contention that the trial court's rejection of the guidelines sentence in this case was merely an expression of his general disagreement with the sentencing guidelines and was, thus, an improper reason for departure under this Court's decisions in Williams v. State, 492 So. 2d 1308, 1309 (Fla. 1986) ("A trial judge may not substitute his own opinion for that of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission simply because he does not *394 agree with the presumptive sentence."), and Scurry v. State, 489 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 1986). The trial judge here was not merely substituting his opinion as to the appropriate sentence for that of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission; rather, he was expressing his conclusion that based upon the reasons given in this case departure was justified.
Accordingly, finding that the trial judge's departure sentence was based on clear and convincing reasons, we approve the decision below.
It is so ordered.
McDONALD, C.J., OVERTON, SHAW and BARKETT, JJ., and ADKINS, J. (Ret.), concur.
[*]  Williams urges this Court to recede from our holding in Weems. We decline to do so.