Opinion ID: 1697522
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bolware

Text: To begin, we must be careful to distinguish between the two dissimilar issues the majority appears to discuss: first, the duty of the trial court during a plea colloquy, and second, the duty of a lawyer to her or his client to explain the consequences of a plea. On the first issue, I agree with the majority's analysis explaining that in order for the trial court to be responsible for notifying a defendant of a potential consequence of a plea and conviction the consequence must be immediate and direct, and in Bolware's case the consequence was not immediate or direct since any revocation under section 322.27(5) is to be determined by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and not by the sentencing court. I also agree with the majority that, in contrast with the cases from the Fourth District where the Legislature explicitly mandated the sentencing court to impose the suspensions, the trial court played no role in this case in ordering the revocation. These circumstances distinguish Bolware's case from those from the Fourth District and make it unnecessary to decide the broader issues addressed by the majority. In fact, the acknowledgment of these distinguishing circumstances and their legal effect demonstrate that there is no conflict between the First District's decision in Bolware and the Fourth District's decisions on the narrow issue of a trial court's duty to inform a defendant of the consequences of a decision to plead guilty or nolo contendere. On the other hand, if we are going to make law beyond the circumstances presented here we should recognize the valid distinction between cases like Bolware's, where the license revocation was an indirect and collateral consequence, and those cases where the license revocations were a direct and immediate consequence of the plea.