Opinion ID: 1727284
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Improper Assessment of Costs

Text: We next address the largest single category of unpreserved sentencing errors that have inundated the appellate courtsunpreserved errors in assessment of costs. Along with a great number of other cases pending before us, [16] the sentencing errors at issue in both Maddox and Hyden involve the improper imposition of costs. [17] These errors were not preserved for appellate review by either a contemporaneous objection or the filing of a motion to correct the sentence pursuant to rule 3.800(b). In contrast to those serious, patent sentencing errors that should be corrected on direct appeal as fundamental, we find that unpreserved errors in the assessment of costs do not warrant the attention of the appellate courts. As pointed out by Judge Warner in the Fourth District's en banc opinion in Hyden, judicial efficiency is sacrificed when a defendant utilizes all of the resources of the appellate systema brief filed by a public defender, the services of the clerk and court, and the review of the case by three judgesin order to correct such mistakes which frequently involve nominal sums. 715 So.2d at 962. Prior to the Act, this Court considered the imposition of discretionary costs without notice and an opportunity to object to be fundamental error because it violated due process. See Wood, 544 So.2d at 1006; Henriquez v. State, 545 So.2d 1340, 1341 (Fla.1989). The district courts appear to be in accord, however, that unpreserved issues relating to any imposition of costs or public defender's liens should no longer be considered correctable on appeal. See, e.g., Maddox, 708 So.2d at 620; Locke v. State, 719 So.2d 1249 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), review granted, No. 94,396, 760 So.2d 947 (Fla. Feb. 18, 1999); Hyden, 715 So.2d at 962; Denson, 711 So.2d at 1230 n. 13. Even before the Act, we found that if a statute or rule mandates the imposition of costs, no error occurs when the costs are imposed without actual notice and an opportunity to object. See State v. Beasley, 580 So.2d 139, 142 (Fla.1991). This is because the defendant receives constructive notice of the costs through the publication of the statute or rule and due process is satisfied as long as the defendant has an opportunity to object at the sentencing hearing. See id. Presently, rule 3.800(b) provides defendants with an opportunity to contest the erroneous imposition of costs after receiving notice of the costs in the written judgment. As observed by Judge Warner: The addition of Rule 3.800(b) and Rule 9.140(d) has changed the legal landscape with respect to whether it remains fundamental error to impose a public defender's fee or costs where the defendant failed to move to correct the sentence or order of probation. Wood explains that without adequate notice and a meaningful hearing, the requirements of due process are not met in imposing costs upon a defendant who may be indigent. See 544 So.2d at 1006. Assuming that prior to the sentence a defendant is not given notice of the state's intent to impose costs and a public defenders' fee, once the fees are imposed in the sentence, the defendant surely has notice of them. If the defendant contests either the ability to pay such fees or the amount, he or she can file a motion to correct the sentence, pursuant to Rule 3.800(b), contesting the imposition and requesting a hearing. This gives the defendant, the trial court, and the state an expeditious manner for correcting the problem by holding a hearing on the matter. Hyden, 715 So.2d at 962. The improper assessment of six dollars in costs in Maddox, 708 So.2d at 618, is trivial. Even though this assessment is without statutory foundation, it does not have a quantitative effect on the length of the sentence the defendant in Maddox is required to serve nor does it have a qualitative effect on the sentencing process. We conclude that an unpreserved error in the assessment of costs cannot be considered a serious, patent sentencing error that should be corrected on appeal as fundamental in the absence of proper preservation in the trial court. Accord Bain, 730 So.2d at 305; Gaines v. State, 724 So.2d 139, 140 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (holding that improper imposition of public defender lien is neither fundamental nor serious, patent sentencing error). As with the pending cases in which the defendant asserts error because of a deviation from the oral pronouncement imposing conditions of probation, in none of the pending cases where the defendant asserts an improper error in the imposition of a cost has the appellant made a claim that the appellate record establishes that he or she did not have notice of the imposition of the costs in time to file a rule 3.800(b) motion. We thus approve of the district courts' opinions in Maddox and Hyden to the extent that they recognize that unpreserved errors in the assessment of costs do not constitute fundamental error that are correctable on direct appeal. However, we disapprove the dicta in both cases that is inconsistent with the definition of fundamental sentencing error set forth in this opinion. [18]