Court Opinion

ID: 9400106
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-07 15:04:54.547846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:19:42.227246
License: Public Domain

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
                             FOURTH DISTRICT

                       MEAGEN LEEANN WILSEY,
                             Appellant,

                                     v.

                          STATE OF FLORIDA,
                               Appellee.

                              No. 4D22-947

                              [June 7, 2023]

  Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St.
Lucie County; Lawrence M. Mirman, Judge; L.T. Case No.
562020CF001285AXXXXX.

   Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Christine C. Geraghty,
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 her conviction and sentence based upon the trial
court’s determination that she had violated probation. We affirm the
conviction without further discussion, concluding the issues which
appellant raises are without merit.

   As to the sentence, appellant sought a downward departure in her
sentence based upon her claims of mental health issues. She contends
that the court’s comments at sentencing evinced an impermissible policy
against granting downward departures based upon mental illness. Our
review of the record shows that the court did not announce any such
policy, and that the court’s comments were directed to the specific facts of
appellant’s case. Thus, we affirm her sentence.

  We reverse, however, the imposition of costs in the sentence. The court
imposed a $200 cost of prosecution without evidence from the State to
support the cost, nor an opportunity for appellant to object to the
enhanced cost. The State concedes that the cost of prosecution should
have been $100 pursuant to section 938.27(8), Florida Statutes (2021),
because the State did not request a higher fee or provide proof of incurring
higher costs. Bevans v. State, 291 So. 3d 591, 593–94 (Fla. 4th DCA
2020). Accordingly, the trial court erred in imposing the $200 in cost of
prosecution. On remand, the trial court should reduce the cost to the
statutory minimum of $100 or reimpose the additional costs if sufficient
findings are made. Bartolone v. State, 327 So. 3d 331, 336 (Fla. 4th DCA
2021).

   Affirmed in part and reversed in part.

WARNER, DAMOORGIAN and CONNER, JJ., concur.

                           *         *         *

   Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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