Title: In Re: Amendments To Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(C)
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SC10-2218
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: December 8, 2011

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
____________ 
 
No. SC10-2218 
____________ 
 
 
IN RE:  AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA RULE OF CRIMINAL 
PROCEDURE 3.800(C). 
 
[December 8, 2011] 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
 This matter is before the Court for consideration of proposed amendments 
to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c) (Correction, Reduction, and 
Modification of Sentences: Reduction and Modification).  We have jurisdiction.  
See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const; Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.140(f). 
At the request of the Court, the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee 
(Committee) has filed an out-of-cycle report proposing amendments to rule 
3.800(c). The Florida Bar Board of Governors’ Executive Committee unanimously 
approved the proposed amendments.  We published the proposed amendments for 
comment.  No comments were received.  
The Committee’s proposals are in response to the Court’s request that 
amendments to rule 3.800(c) be proposed in light of our decision in Schlabach v. 
 
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State, 37 So. 3d 230 (Fla. 2010).  In that case, we determined whether a trial court 
loses jurisdiction to modify a sentence when a motion is filed within the sixty-day 
period provided in rule 3.800(c), but the trial court does not rule on the motion 
within that period.  Id. at 230.  We held that a trial court does not lose jurisdiction 
to modify a sentence imposed by it, if a defendant files a motion to modify the 
sentence within the sixty-day time period prescribed by rule 3.800(c) and the trial 
court rules on the motion within a reasonable time.  Id. at 239.  In doing so, we 
recognized that our holding did not quantify what constitutes a reasonable time and 
that there has been disagreement within the courts on whether a defendant may file 
a rule 3.800(c) motion up until the final day of the sixty-day time period.  Id. n.8.  
Accordingly, we directed the Committee to propose amendments to rule 3.800(c) 
that provide for a reasonable period of time for a defendant to file a rule 3.800(c) 
motion and an appropriate period of time for the trial court to rule upon such 
motions or to sua sponte reduce or modify a sentence.  Id. n.9.    
Having considered the Committee’s report, we adopt the amendments to rule 
3.800(c) proposed by the Committee, with modifications.  The amended rule 
provides a sixty-day period of time for the trial court to sua sponte modify a 
sentence or for the defendant to file a motion to modify a sentence.  The rule is 
further amended to provide that a trial court shall have ninety days, or such time as 
agreed by the parties or extended by the trial court, from the date a motion to 
 
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modify a sentence is filed to enter an order ruling on the motion.  Finally, language 
is added to provide that a motion to modify a sentence is deemed denied if an order 
is not timely entered by a trial court.  
Accordingly, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800 is hereby amended 
as set forth in the appendix to this opinion.  New language is underscored.  The 
amendment shall become effective immediately upon the release of this opinion. 
It is so ordered. 
PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, and PERRY, JJ., concur. 
CANADY, C.J., dissents. 
 
THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE 
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS. 
 
 
Original Proceeding – The Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee 
 
Robert T. Strain, Chair, Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, Capital Collateral 
Regional Counsel, Tampa, Florida, and John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director, 
and Krys Godwin, Committee Staff Liaison, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, 
 
 
for Petitioner 
 
 
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Appendix 
 
RULE 3.800. CORRECTION, REDUCTION, AND MODIFICATION OF 
SENTENCES 
 
(a) – (b) 
[No Change] 
 
(c) 
Reduction and Modification. A court may reduce or modify to 
include any of the provisions of chapter 948, Florida Statutes, a legal sentence 
imposed by it, sua sponte, or upon motion filed, within 60 days after the 
imposition, or within 60 days after receipt by the court of a mandate issued by the 
appellate court on affirmance of the judgment and/or sentence on an original 
appeal, or within 60 days after receipt by the court of a certified copy of an order 
of the appellate court dismissing an original appeal from the judgment and/or 
sentence, or, if further appellate review is sought in a higher court or in 
successively higher courts, within 60 days after the highest state or federal court to 
which a timely appeal has been taken under authority of law, or in which a petition 
for certiorari has been timely filed under authority of law, has entered an order of 
affirmance or an order dismissing the appeal and/or denying certiorari. If review is 
upon motion, the trial court shall have 90 days from the date the motion is filed or 
such time as agreed by the parties or as extended by the trial court to enter an order 
ruling on the motion. If no order is entered on the motion within 90 days or such 
time as extended by the parties or the trial court, the motion shall be deemed 
denied. This subdivision shall not be applicable to those cases in which the death 
sentence is imposed or those cases in which the trial judge has imposed the 
minimum mandatory sentence or has no sentencing discretion. 
 
Committee Notes 
 
[No Change] 
 
Court Commentary 
 
[No Change]