Opinion ID: 1896138
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: State v. Gentes

Text: In 1993, Donald Gentes entered no contest pleas to five counts of lewd and lascivious assault and was sentenced to ten years in prison on two of the counts, the sentences to be served consecutively, to fifteen years' probation on two others (consecutive), and fifteen years' probation (concurrent with the other probation charges) on the final count. On May 14, 1999, an order of probation was entered, nunc pro tunc to October 22, 1993. Before Gentes's release from prison, the State filed a petition for civil commitment. Gentes filed a motion to enforce the plea agreement and sentence, alleging that the State's petition for civil commitment breached the plea agreement because it placed him in a prison-like setting. The trial court denied the motion. Gentes appealed, and the First District reversed based on its prior decision in Harris. See Gentes v. State, 828 So.2d 1051 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002). The First District also certified the same questions as certified in Harris, but noted that only the two questions certified in the opinion on motions for rehearing need be considered because the question in the original Harris opinion jumps over the central issue in the case by assuming the plea agreement was breached when the State sought civil commitment. Gentes, 828 So.2d at 1053. Although obligated to follow Harris, the panel in Gentes expressed its reservations about that decision. It noted that the Harris holding may not be in concert with the apparent consensus of other states finding civil commitment of sexually violent predators, under similar state laws, does not violate the terms of a plea agreement. Gentes, at 1052 (citing several cases from other states). The court also noted that our sister court has previously held that subsequent designation as a sexual violent predator under Florida law does not violate a plea agreement. Id. (citing Collie v. State, 710 So.2d 1000 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)). We now review this issue in these consolidated review proceedings.