Case Name: Maria MONTOYA, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1988-12-28
Citations: 537 So. 2d 629
Docket Number: No. 87-1674
Parties: Maria MONTOYA, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: THREADGILL and PARKER, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 537
Pages: 629–630

Head Matter:
Maria MONTOYA, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 87-1674.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
Dec. 28, 1988.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 1, 1989.
Daniel F. Daly and Norman S. Cannella of Norman S. Cannella, P.A., Tampa, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Davis G. Anderson, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

Opinion:
SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant, Maria Montoya, was convicted of trafficking in more than four hundred grams of cocaine and was sentenced to serve thirty years in prison and to pay a $250,000 fine. On appeal, she challenges both her conviction and sentence. We find merit only in Montoya's sentencing issue.
The trial court departed upward from the minimum mandatory sentence of fifteen years prescribed by section 893.135(1)(b)(3), Florida Statutes (1987), based on the quantity of narcotics involved. This has been held, however, to be an improper reason to depart. Atwaters v. State, 519 So.2d 611 (Fla.1988); Restrepo v. State, 533 So.2d 1180 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988). Accordingly, we affirm Montoya's conviction but remand to the trial court for resentencing within the recommended guidelines range with the sentence to be no less than that required by section 893.135(1)(b)(3).
THREADGILL and PARKER, JJ., concur.