Case Name: Timothy VAN HORN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1986-04-08
Citations: 485 So. 2d 1380
Docket Number: No. 84-2274
Parties: Timothy VAN HORN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 485
Pages: 1380–1383

Head Matter:
Timothy VAN HORN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 84-2274.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
April 8, 1986.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Beth C. Weitzner, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Renee Ruska Pelzman and Nancy Wear, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The appellant pled guilty to four counts of a five count information charging him with crimes committed on March 11, 1984. Under the method of computing his sentence provided by the version of Fla.R. Crim.P. 3.701(d)(3) then in effect, the recommended guidelines range was between five and one-half and seven years imprisonment. His sentencing was originally scheduled for June 28, 1984, but was continued, on the prosecutor's motion, to July 5,1984. The guidelines on that date as determined under the amendment to Rule 3.701(d)(3) which had become effective four days earlier, on July 1, 1984, yielded a recommended sentence range of between twelve and seventeen years. The trial judge held that the amendment applied and accordingly sentenced Van Horn to guideline sentences totaling seventeen years. The defendant now appeals on the ground that the application of the amended guidelines to crimes which occurred before their effective date offends the provisions of the United States Constitution which forbid ex post facto laws. See Richardson v. State, 472 So.2d 1278 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985), which so holds with respect to the identical July 1, 1984 guidelines amendment.
We reject this contention and affirm the sentence under review — specifically without prejudice to a motion to withdraw the guilty plea — on the authority of State v. Jackson, 478 So.2d 1054 (Fla.1985). As did the courts in Wilkerson v. State, 480 So.2d 213 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) and Carter v. State, 483 So.2d 740 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986), we certify to the Supreme Court of Florida that this decision passes upon the following question of great public importance:
Whether all sentencing guidelines amendments are to be considered procedural in nature so that guidelines as most recently amended shall be applied at the time of sentencing without regard to the ex post facto doctrine.
Affirmed.
. The plea was entered pursuant to negotiations with the prosecution, accepted by the court, which included reserving the right of the state to seek an upward departure from the guidelines.
. The court granted the motion, in part, on the observation that the delay could not prejudice the defendant.
. See Tobey v. State, 458 So.2d 90 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984).
. I note that the logical and legal implication of Jackson is the invalidation of that portion of § 921.001(4)(b), Fla.Stat. (1983) which states that guideline revisions promulgated by the Supreme Court are not effective until adopted by the legislature. If, as Jackson says, the guidelines are merely procedural, this provision is contrary to Article V, Section 2 of the Florida Constitution which grants the Court alone authority to adopt rules of procedure, subject only to repeal by a two-thirds vote of the legislature. I am obviously not prepared to say what the effect of a determination that ousts the legislature of all but the power to veto guideline revisions might be on any particular guideline issue, see Pacheco v. State, 485 So.2d 1379 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), or, indeed, on the continued viability of the guidelines concept as a whole — particularly in view of the fact that the legislature was the moving force behind their enactment in the first place. See § 921.001 et seq., Fla. Stat. (1983), note 4, infra.