Case Name: Quilla ELKINS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1986-06-12
Citations: 489 So. 2d 1222
Docket Number: No. 85-1056
Parties: Quilla ELKINS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: UPCHURCH, J. concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 489
Pages: 1222–1225

Head Matter:
Quilla ELKINS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 85-1056.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
June 12, 1986.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Brynn Newton, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Belle B. Turner, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is an appeal from a sentence. The Sentencing Guideline Commission, and others who eagerly promoted the benefits of the new sentencing guidelines when they took effect, assured the public that there would be no appreciable increase in appellate court work load as a result of the new guidelines. We write now to point out that a very substantial percentage of our criminal cases are appeals from guideline sentences. This case represents one of over 750 appeals in Florida where the issue decided by written opinion was one involving a sentence under the guidelines. Those cases decided without written opinion exceed the written ones.
Although the sentencing guidelines may have accomplished the intended result of reducing the Florida prison population, they most assuredly have increased the number of appeals. The constant changes and refinements of the guidelines by the legislature and the supreme court have not assisted in establishing a consistency in the law, and it is too early to tell whether there is a state-wide consistency in sentences themselves. Whether the new sentencing program is any better than the old parole system is still unknown, but it is certain that trial courts and appellate courts have experienced an enormous increase in their work load as a result of the change.
We must vacate the sentence in this case because the trial court failed to follow the rule requiring written reasons for departure as announced in State v. Oden, 478 So.2d 51 (Fla.1985). It was not until five weeks after the sentencing hearing that the trial court provided its "contemporaneous written statement of the reasons" for departure. We do not deem this delay to comply with the Oden requirement. But we do not mean to imply, as the special concurrence does, that the contemporaneity must be at the very instant the sentence is pronounced. What the supreme court means by contemporaneous is for the supreme court to say, finally. All we are saying is that five weeks after the fact is not contemporaneous, in our opinion. The court also used improper reasons for departure. Hendrix v. State, 475 So.2d 1218 (Fla.1985).
The sentence is vacated and this matter remanded for resentencing.
SENTENCE VACATED; REMANDED.
UPCHURCH, J. concurs.
SHARP, J., concurs specially with opinion.