Opinion ID: 1681743
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Mandatory Sentence for Robbery under the PRR Statute

Text: The second certified conflict issue is whether under the PRR statute the mandatory sentence for first-degree robbery with a firearm is thirty years or life imprisonment. McDonald relies on the Third District's decision in Frazier to claim that the mandatory sentence is thirty years. See Frazier, 877 So.2d at 840 (holding that mandatory sentence for first-degree robbery with a firearm is thirty years but affirming life sentence on other grounds). The Fourth District disagreed and certified conflict. McDonald, 912 So.2d at 77. Specifically, the Fourth District found that McDonald was properly sentenced under the PRR statute to a mandatory life sentence for the commission of a robbery with a firearm. It relied upon this Court's decision in Knight, which held that the PRR statute requires a mandatory life sentence be imposed for any felony punishable by life, including first degree felonies punishable by life. McDonald, 912 So.2d at 77. We agree with the Fourth District. In Knight, this Court rejected a nearly identical claim that the PRR statute only imposes a thirty-year maximum sentence for robbery with a firearm since it is a felony of the first degree rather than a felony punishable by life. We affirmed Knight's life sentence under the PRR statute for armed robbery, holding that the phrase `felonies punishable by life,' used in [the PRR statute], provides for a mandatory life sentence for prison releasee reoffenders who commit either life felonies or first-degree felonies punishable by life. 808 So.2d at 213-14. [7] Pursuant to section 812.13(2)(a), Florida Statutes (2000), armed robbery is a felony punishable by life. See § 812.13(2)(a) (If in the course of committing the robbery the offender carried a firearm or other deadly weapon, then the robbery is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment or as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.). Consequently, McDonald was properly sentenced to life for first-degree robbery with a firearm.