Case Name: Wayne JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1996-09-04
Citations: 679 So. 2d 831
Docket Number: No. 95-1634
Parties: Wayne JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: ALLEN, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 679
Pages: 831–834

Head Matter:
Wayne JOHNSON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 95-1634.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Sept. 4, 1996.
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; Jamie Spivey, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Giselle Lylen Rivera, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Opinion:
WEBSTER, Judge.
Appellant seeks review of his sentence, imposed following a jury trial which resulted in a conviction for battery on a law enforcement officer. He asserts that he is entitled to have his sentence vacated, and to be re-sentenced by another judge, because the "sentence was imposed, to some degree, to punish him for having exercised his right to a jury trial."
The transcript of appellant's sentencing reflects the following exchange before the trial court pronounced its sentence:
THE COURT: Let me make sure where we are. This case went to a jury trial.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: This was a case in which one of the parole officer type personnel is in a hearing, and he belts her right there in front of all these witnesses. And we go to trial. How long was the jury out?
[PROSECUTOR]: A little over an hour, I believe, Judge.
THE COURT: Just enough time to have each one of them mumble something and turn around and come back.
We're happy to talk about sorry about this, that and the other, hoping maybe the jury will give us a jury pardon. The jury didn't give us a jury pardon. We spent a whole day, brought them in, the whole nine yards on an absolutely indefensible case, just so I guess somebody could go back out to the jail and macho pose and say I had my trial by jury.
Now we get to the business end of it, where it wasn't all that bad or what have you — and that should not be critical to you, I know you don't make those decisions— but insofar as the individuals are concerned, I don't know what goes through their heads out there sometimes.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, you're absolutely correct.
THE COURT: When you have an indefensible case, you can't do like private counsel, and say I'm out of here. You have through [sic] go through the valley of death and try the thing. But it amazes me that some of these things go on.
But go ahead. I know your job is to try to minimize. I will be very candid, what I see is an absolutely indefensible case by someone who has a felony record that stretches off into the distance, who had an indefensible case and put us through going through a whole trial, I guess so he could talk about it. When there was an offer on the table he decided to turn down. Now it's time to pay the piper.
We agree with appellant that the foregoing comments by the trial court may reasonably be read to suggest that appellant's sentence was the result, at least in part, of his decision to exercise his constitutional right to insist on a jury trial. Accordingly, in an abundance of caution, we vacate appellant's sentence, and remand with directions that appellant be re-sentenced by another judge, to be assigned by the chief judge of the circuit. E.g., AS. v. State, 667 So.2d 994 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); Cavallaro v. State, 647 So.2d 1006 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994); Pasley v. State, 559 So.2d 1167 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); Webb v. State, 454 So.2d 616 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984); Gillman v. State, 373 So.2d 935 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), reversed on other grounds, 390 So.2d 62 (Fla.1980); Gallucci v. State, 371 So.2d 148 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979), cert. denied, 383 So.2d 1194 (Fla.1980).
CONVICTION AFFIRMED; SENTENCE VACATED and REMANDED, with directions.
ALLEN, J., concurs.
LAWRENCE, J., dissents with written opinion.