Court Opinion

ID: 9959763
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-12 16:03:13.522769+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:53.781178
License: Public Domain

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
                STATE OF FLORIDA
                 _____________________________

                       Case No. 5D23-3268
                  LT Case Nos. 2006-CF-1413-A
                               2006-CF-1800-A
                               2006-CF-1412-A
                 _____________________________

EDWIN SANCHEZ,

    Appellant,

    v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

    Appellee.
                 _____________________________

3.800 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Marion County.
Anthony M. Tatti, Judge.

Edwin Sanchez, Bushnell, Appellant.

No Appearance for Appellee.

                          April 12, 2024

PER CURIAM.

     Sanchez’s 3.800(a) motion alleged a violation of a plea
agreement which even if true does not create an illegal sentence.
McLendon v. State, 58 So. 3d 387, 388 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011). Such
a claim would have to be raised in a timely and legally sufficient
rule 3.850 motion and is not cognizable in a rule 3.800(a). However,
a motion filed under rule 3.800(a) should be treated as a motion
filed under rule 3.850 where it is in the interest of justice to do so,
and the motion would be timely under rule 3.850. Brooks v. State,
969 So. 2d 238, 243 n.8 (Fla. 2007). While it is now too late for
Sanchez to file such a motion as his sentence became final in
February 2022, at the time the 3.800(a) motion was filed, it would
have been timely, and the trial court should have treated the
motion as a timely rule 3.850 motion and either refuted the claim
with record attachments or allowed Sanchez leave to amend
pursuant to Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754, 761 (Fla. 2007).

     Therefore, the trial court’s order denying Sanchez’s rule
3.800(a) motion is reversed and remanded. The trial court shall
provide Sanchez with an opportunity to raise his claim in a facially
sufficient postconviction motion for relief pursuant to rule 3.850 of
the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure. Id.

    REVERSED and REMANDED.

EDWARDS, C.J., and MAKAR and KILBANE, JJ., concur.

                  _____________________________

    Not final until disposition of any timely and
    authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
    9.331.
               _____________________________

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