Opinion

Williams v. State

  • 836 So. 2d 1082
  • 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 1015
  • 2003 WL 241777
Court
District Court of Appeal of Florida
Filed
Feb 5, 2003
Status
Published
Author
Salcines
On the bench
Covington, Davis, Salcines
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 70.9%

The opinion

SALCINES, Judge.

Anthony D. Williams appeals the denial of his motion to correct illegal sentence filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We affirm.

Williams claims that his forty-year sentence is illegal because it exceeds the statutory maximum sentence for a first-degree felony. Williams was charged with attempted first-degree murder, a first-degree felony. See §§ 782.04(l)(a), 777.04(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (1989). The information specifically states that Williams attempted to kill the victim “with a firearm,” and the jury found Williams guilty as charged of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. Therefore, the offense was reclassified from a first-degree felony to a life felony pursuant to section 775.087(l)(a), Florida Statutes (Supp.1990), for the use of a firearm, and the forty-year *1083 prison sentence is legal since it is within the statutory maximum sentence provided for life felonies. See § 775.082(3)(a), Fla. Stat. (1989).

Williams’ confusion is understandable, however, in light of a scrivener’s error contained within the judgment that incorrectly reflects that Williams was convicted of a first-degree felony. In order to avoid future confusion, the trial court may find it advisable to correct that scrivener’s error.

Affirmed.

DAVIS and COVINGTON, JJ., Concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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