Case Name: Toby Emilo DOW, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2002-08-14
Citations: 823 So. 2d 830
Docket Number: No. 2D02-944
Parties: Toby Emilo DOW, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: SALCINES, J., Concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 823
Pages: 830–832

Head Matter:
Toby Emilo DOW, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 2D02-944.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
Aug. 14, 2002.

Opinion:
CASANUEVA, Judge.
Toby Dow appeals the order summarily denying his timely motion for postconvietion relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. Dow raised three claims in his motion. We agree in part with the trial court and thus affirm the denial of two of Dow's claims. However, we conclude that Dow articulated a facially sufficient claim that his plea was involuntary. Because that claim is not refuted by the record attachments, we reverse and remand for further proceedings on that issue.
In his first claim for relief, Dow stated his counsel promised him that the plea would result in youthful offender sanctions (rather than adult sanctions) and that he would not have pleaded if he had not been misled by counsel's advice. This is a facially sufficient claim for relief. See Ricardo v. State, 647 So.2d 287 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994). The issue in this appeal is whether the record provided by the trial court refutes Dow's claim.
The trial court's denial of Dow's motion relies on Bermudez v. State, 603 So.2d 657 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), wherein the court held that the trial court's statements to the defendant cured the misadvice the defendant received from his counsel regarding the consequences of his plea, so that the misadvice did not affect the voluntariness of the defendant's plea. In the instant plea colloquy, the court informed Dow that there was no negotiated sentence, that his minimum sentence was 82.6 months' incarceration, and that he faced a maximum sentence of life on the carjacking and robbery charges.
In his motion, Dow acknowledges all of these statements. However, unlike Ber-mudez, the trial court in this case did not directly ask Dow about the ultimate question at issue in this appeal: Did counsel promise Dow that he would receive youthful offender sanctions?
Section 958.04(2)(d), Florida Statutes (1997), indicates that the maximum incar-cerative sentence for a youthful offender is six years. Therefore, the minimum sentence of 82.6 months' incarceration, as the trial court stated, clearly exceeded any possible youthful offender sentence by almost a year. Nonetheless, the court's statements to Dow do not cure counsel's alleged misadvice that Dow was receiving a youthful offender sentence.
In order to adequately refute a claim like this from the record, the discussion with the court must explore the specific issue upon which the defendant asserts he was misadvised. Johnson v. State, 736 So.2d 713 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). In Johnson, the defendant claimed he was promised a guidelines sentence by counsel, but he received a habitual offender sentence. This court found that the claim was adequately refuted by the record where (1) the trial court had explored Johnson's awareness that he faced habitual offender sanctions, (2) the trial court informed him that he qualified for habitual offender sanctions, and (3) a guidelines sentence was not mentioned as a possibility. This case is distinguishable from Johnson because in this case the court did not mention that the sanctions Dow faced were adult sanctions — not youthful offender sanctions.
Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's order and remand for further proceedings. On remand, should the trial court again summarily deny Dow's motion, it shall attach those portions of the record that conclusively demonstrate he is not entitled to relief.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.
SALCINES, J., Concurs.
ALTENBERND, J., Concurs with opinion.