Court Opinion

ID: 9414670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 15:05:05.356487+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:55.878542
License: Public Domain

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
                             FOURTH DISTRICT

                          VINSON G. KEARSE,
                              Appellant,

                                    v.

                          STATE OF FLORIDA,
                               Appellee.

                             No. 4D22-1175

                             [August 2, 2023]

   Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit,
Broward County; Ari Abraham Porth, Judge; L.T. Case No.
15007439CF10A.

   Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Robert Porter, Assistant Public
Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

   Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Anesha Worthy,
Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

   Appellant appeals his adjudication and sentence for two counts of
sexual battery upon a mentally defective victim in violation of section
794.011(4)(e), one count of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors in
violation of section 794.05(1), and one count of lewd or lascivious
molestation upon a disabled adult in violation of section 825.1025(3). We
remand to the trial court for the limited purpose of conducting an
evidentiary hearing regarding appellant’s criminal scoresheet. On the
other issues raised, we affirm without further comment.

    After sentencing, appellant filed a motion to correct sentencing error
under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2), alleging issues with
points assigned for appellant’s prior record on his criminal punishment
scoresheet. The trial court did not rule on the motion within 60 days, so
it was deemed denied. Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(b)(2)(B). Appellant filed his
rule 3.800(b)(2) motion where he had contested three prior convictions on
his scoresheet. See Sanders v. State, 333 So. 3d 235, 235 (Fla. 4th DCA
2022). Appellant contested the points he received for the following three
convictions: (1) 14 points for each of two convictions of burglary of an
unoccupied conveyance, (2) 23 points for a conviction of lewd or lascivious
molestation on a person under 12 years of age, and (3) 2.6 points for a
grand theft auto conviction.

    “[I]f a defendant contests the truth of the prior conviction, then the
State is required to corroborate the offense by competent evidence.” Woods
v. State, 294 So. 3d 339, 340 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020). Because the trial court
did not require the state to provide competent evidence of the contested
prior convictions after appellant contested the prior convictions with the
trial court, we remand for an evidentiary hearing. Bryant v. State, 37 So.
3d 269, 271-72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009). “If the evidentiary hearing confirms
a scoresheet error, the court shall consider resentencing the defendant
under the ‘would-have-been-imposed’ standard cited in State v. Anderson,
905 So. 2d 111 (Fla. 2005).” Id. at 272. Thus, the trial court must first
conduct an evidentiary hearing on the three contested convictions to
determine if appellant’s scoresheet needs to be corrected. Then, if the trial
court determines that there is an error on appellant’s scoresheet, the trial
court must determine if appellant would have received the same sentence
with the “corrected” scoresheet.

   Like in Sanders, “we reverse and remand for the trial court to hold an
evidentiary hearing on Appellant’s claim and for the court to then
resentence him if necessary.” 333 So. 3d at 236 (emphasis added).

   Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

GROSS, GERBER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.

                            *        *         *

   Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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