Thomas Kelsey v. State of Florida ( 2015 )


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  •                                       IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
    FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
    THOMAS KELSEY,                        NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
    FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
    Appellant,                      DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
    v.                                    CASE NO. 1D14-518
    STATE OF FLORIDA,
    Appellee.
    _____________________________/
    Opinion filed November 9, 2015.
    An appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
    James H. Daniel, Judge.
    Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, and Glen P. Gifford, Assistant Public
    Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
    Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Virginia Chester Harris, Assistant
    Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
    ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
    PER CURIAM.
    On March 26, 2010, Thomas Kelsey was sentenced to two life sentences and
    two concurrent twenty five year terms for the four nonhomicide offenses he
    committed in 2002 at the age of fifteen: armed burglary with an assault or battery,
    armed robbery, and two counts of sexual battery. A few months later, the Supreme
    Court announced its decision in Graham v. Florida, 
    560 U.S. 48
    (2010), pursuant
    to which Kelsey was resentenced to concurrent forty-five year sentences for each
    offense. The issue presented is whether he is entitled to be resentenced again under
    Graham and its progeny including recent juvenile sentencing legislation and
    decisions of our supreme court. We initially answered that question in the negative,
    but Kelsey has asked that we reconsider our legal analysis, which we have done,
    concluding that he is not entitled to resentencing again.
    While this appeal was pending, the Florida Supreme Court decided Henry v.
    State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S147 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015),1 holding that “the
    constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment under Graham is
    implicated when a juvenile nonhomicide offender’s sentence does not afford any
    ‘meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and
    rehabilitation.’” 
    Id. (citing Graham,
    560 U.S. at 75). The court stated that “Graham
    requires a juvenile nonhomicide offender . . . to be afforded such an opportunity
    during his or her natural life.” 
    Id. Because Henry
    had been resentenced after
    Graham to ninety years, requiring that he be imprisoned “until he is at least ninety-
    five years old,” our supreme court concluded his aggregate sentence—which did
    not afford him the “meaningful opportunity” for release that Graham requires
    during an offender’s “natural life”—was unconstitutional and that he “should be
    1
    Henry was released after the filing of the initial and answer briefs, but before the
    time for filing of the reply brief, in this case.
    2
    resentenced in light of the new juvenile sentencing legislation enacted by the
    Florida Legislature in 2014, ch. 2014-220, Laws of Fla.” Id.; cf. Thomas v. State,
    
    78 So. 3d 644
    (Fla. 1st DCA 2011) (concurrent fifty-year terms without possibility
    of parole is not the functional equivalent of a life sentence). Though Henry’s
    crimes occurred prior to the effective date of the legislation, its remedial aspects
    were judicially extended to him. See Horsley v. State, 
    160 So. 3d 393
    (Fla. 2015).
    Kelsey requests the same relief afforded to Henry, but we may do so only if
    his forty-five year prison term is a de facto life sentence in violation of Graham,
    which it is not under our Court’s precedents. See Abrakata v. State, 
    168 So. 3d 251
    , 252 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (“absent a violation of Graham, there is no legal
    basis to retroactively apply section 921.1402 (or any other provision of the juvenile
    sentencing legislation enacted in 2014) to the 2011 offense in this case.”); Lambert
    v. State, 
    170 So. 3d 74
    , 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (“Here, unlike the sentences in
    Henry (90 years) and Gridine (70 years), the 15–year sentence Lambert received
    on count 2 does not amount to anything close to a de facto life sentence.”).
    Because the concurrent resentences at issue in this case do not violate Graham, we
    are constrained to deny relief.
    We note that our supreme court recently quashed this Court’s decision in
    Thomas v. State, 
    135 So. 3d 590
    (Fla. 1st DCA 2014), review granted, decision
    quashed, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S479f (Fla. Sept. 4, 2015), a case involving a homicide
    3
    offense. Thomas was convicted of armed robbery and first-degree murder and
    sentenced to mandatory life term without parole, but was resentenced in light of
    Miller v. Alabama, 
    132 S. Ct. 2455
    (2012) to concurrent thirty- and forty-year
    sentences. This Court upheld those resentences, but the supreme court “remanded
    for resentencing in conformity with the framework established in chapter 2014–
    220, Laws of Florida, which has been codified in sections 775.082, 921.1401, and
    921.1402 of the Florida Statutes. See Horsley v. State, 
    160 So. 3d 393
    , 395 (Fla.
    2015).” Thomas, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S479f. In effect, the supreme court appears to
    require that any juvenile initially sentenced to mandatory life without parole for a
    homicide in violation of Miller be sentenced under the new framework regardless
    of what resentence may have been imposed in the interim.
    But this is a Graham case, not a Miller case; Kelsey’s crimes were
    nonhomicides for which a range of lawful punishments was available. As to
    Graham defendants, the supreme court has required re-resentencing only where the
    initial resentence is life or de facto life, as in Henry (ninety years) and Gridine v.
    State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (seventy years). For example,
    in Henry because the supreme court “determined that Henry’s sentence is
    unconstitutional under Graham, we conclude that Henry should be resentenced in
    light of the new juvenile sentencing legislation enacted by the Florida Legislature
    in 2014, ch.2014–220, Laws of Fla.” 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S147 (citing Horsley)
    4
    (emphasis added). Unlike Miller cases for which no valid remedy on resentencing
    was available until the recent legislation, a wide range of valid term of years
    sentences   are   available   for   juvenile’s   whose   original   sentences   were
    unconstitutional under Graham. If those resentences themselves violate Graham by
    providing no meaningful opportunity for release (as in Henry and Gridine), the
    supreme court requires resort to the 2014 legislative remedies. But the supreme
    court has not yet held that all resentencings and re-resentencings under Graham
    must also comply with the recent legislation. Our precedents have not held that a
    forty-five year sentence for a nonhomicide is a de facto life term to which Graham
    applies; nor has our supreme court. We are thereby constrained to affirm in this
    case, but recognizing the need for clarity on this category of Graham cases certify
    the following question as one of great public importance:
    Whether a defendant whose initial sentence for a nonhomicide crime
    violates Graham v. Florida, and who is resentenced to concurrent
    forty-five year terms, is entitled to a new resentencing under the
    framework established in chapter 2014–220, Laws of Florida?
    AFFIRMED.
    MAKAR, J., CONCURS; WINOKUR, J., CONCURS WITH OPINION;
    BENTON, J., CONCURS IN CERTIFIED QUESTION BUT DISSENTS ON
    MERITS WITH OPINION.
    5
    WINOKUR, J., concurring.
    I concur in the majority opinion. I write separately because I see no
    compelling reason to overturn five years of constitutional,2 legally-authorized
    resentences imposed following Graham v. Florida, 
    560 U.S. 48
    (2010). That would
    be the result if Kelsey prevailed in this appeal.
    While Kelsey’s original sentence violated Graham, rather than Miller v.
    Alabama, 
    132 S. Ct. 2455
    (2012), Miller is the starting point of this analysis.
    Miller prohibits a mandatory life without parole sentence for an offense committed
    by a juvenile. Miller presented a significant difficulty in Florida because, as the
    majority opinion notes, no valid remedy on resentencing was available. The
    Florida Supreme Court resolved the matter in Horsley v. State, 
    160 So. 3d 393
    (Fla. 2015). Under the “unique” (a term the Court used four times) circumstances
    presented by offenders whose sentences were unconstitutional but had no legal
    resentencing alternatives available, the Court ordered the extraordinary remedy of
    retroactive application of a new sentencing law, despite that law’s terms limiting
    its application to offenses “committed on or after July 1, 2014.” Ch. 2014-220, §§
    2, 3, at 2872-73, Laws of Fla. (codified at §§ 921.1401(1); 921.1402(1), Fla. Stat.
    2
    I am presuming that Kelsey’s 45-year sentence is constitutional under
    Graham. My opinion addresses the issue of whether Kelsey is entitled to a second
    resentencing pursuant to the 2014 sentencing statute because his original sentence
    violated Graham.
    6
    (2014)). In reaching this conclusion, the Court rejected the argument that this
    remedy violated Article X, section 9 of the Florida Constitution, the so-called
    “Savings Clause,” (generally prohibiting the retroactive application of a sentencing
    law), because “in this unique context” where the sentencing statute itself is
    unconstitutional, “the requirements of the federal constitution must trump those of
    our state constitution.” 
    Horsley, 160 So. 3d at 406
    .
    Thomas v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S479f (Fla. Sept. 4, 2015), a case on
    which the dissent heavily relies, involved an offender whose life sentence violated
    Miller. The trial court resentenced Thomas to concurrent 40- and 30-year terms of
    imprisonment, which this Court affirmed prior to the Horsley decision. Thomas v.
    State, 
    135 So. 3d 590
    (Fla. 1st DCA 2014). In a two-sentence unpublished order,
    the Supreme Court quashed this Court’s decision and ordered resentencing “in
    conformance with the framework established in chapter 2014–220, Laws of
    Florida,” consistent with its opinion in Horsley. Thomas, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at
    S479.
    In my view the Thomas order only recognizes that the 40-year resentence
    was impermissible. The sentencing court could not simply choose a sentence
    without statutory authority in an effort to comply with Miller. 3 Because the
    3
    The Supreme Court said as much in Horsley, ruling that such sentences
    “ignore the primary role of the Legislature in criminal sentencing by crafting a
    remedy without a statutory basis.” 
    Horsley, 160 So. 3d at 405
    .
    7
    Supreme Court had already ruled in Horsley that the proper resolution was
    retroactive application of the 2014 sentencing law, the defendant in Thomas was
    entitled to that remedy.
    Kelsey’s resentence, in contrast to Thomas’s, was both constitutional and
    statutorily authorized. 4 Retroactive application of the 2014 law to Kelsey would
    mean that every Graham defendant who has been resentenced since Graham was
    decided in 2010 gets a second resentencing, even though the first resentence was
    consistent with Graham and applicable sentencing statutes. Given the “unique
    circumstances” occasioning the retroactive application of the 2014 law in Horsley,
    I do not believe that the Supreme Court meant to disrupt the finality of legal
    sentences imposed years earlier by applying a later-enacted law to them.
    I recognize that the Supreme Court in Henry v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly
    S147, S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015), ruled that Henry, a Graham defendant, should be
    resentenced under the 2014 law, even though the “unique circumstances” present
    with Miller defendants do not seem to be present with Graham defendants. See
    also Gridine v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015) (holding that
    Graham prohibits a 70-year sentence for a juvenile nonhomicide offender). In my
    4
    Sexual battery is a life felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment for
    life or by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment. §§
    794.011(3); 775.082(3)(a)3., Fla. Stat. (2002). Armed robbery, and armed burglary
    with an assault or battery, are first-degree felonies punishable by imprisonment for
    a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment. §§ 812.13(2)(a); 810.02(2)(a) &
    (b); 775.082(3)(b), Fla. Stat. (2002).
    8
    view Henry does not apply to Kelsey because Henry’s 90-year sentence (as well as
    Gridine’s 70-year sentence) violated the Eighth Amendment pursuant to Graham.
    While Kelsey’s original sentence violated Graham, his current sentence does not.
    C.f. 
    Horsley, 130 So. 3d at 394
    n. 1, 397 (noting that the issue presented there was
    the proper remedy for sentences that are “now unconstitutional” under Miller
    (emphasis added)). As stated above, no compelling reason exists to overturn
    Kelsey’s constitutional, statutorily-authorized resentence. I would limit the Henry
    remedy to defendants whose current sentences violate Graham, which generally
    means any sentence that is so long that it does not afford the offender an
    “opportunity for release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation during
    his or her natural life.” Henry, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at S149. Any other interpretation
    unnecessarily erodes the finality of sentences that were legally imposed and in
    compliance with Graham.
    In summary, I find that neither Henry nor Thomas supports resentencing
    here. Henry was permitted resentencing under the 2014 law because his sentence
    was unconstitutional. Thomas was permitted resentencing under the 2014 law not
    because his first resentence was unconstitutional, but because it was not statutorily
    authorized. Because Kelsey’s resentence is both constitutional and statutorily
    authorized, neither case applies and he is not entitled to a second resentencing.
    Accordingly, I concur in the majority opinion.
    9
    BENTON, J., dissenting.
    I respectfully dissent on the merits of the appeal.         Under controlling
    precedent, the appellant is entitled to be “resentenced in light of the new juvenile
    sentencing legislation enacted by the Florida Legislature in 2014, ch. 2014-220,
    Laws of Fla.” Henry v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S147, S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015),
    reh’g denied, No. SC12-578 (Fla. Sept. 24, 2015). I concur in certifying the
    question posed in the majority opinion.
    The appellant was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison without parole for
    nonhomicide offenses he committed as a juvenile in 2002.            These sentences
    violated the prohibition later handed down in Graham v. Florida, 
    560 U.S. 48
    , 82
    (2010), against “the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile
    offender who did not commit homicide.”          After the original sentences were
    vacated, appellant was resentenced in 2014 to concurrent 45-year sentences. The
    resentencing that took place in the wake of Graham, while not the equivalent of life
    in prison, did not conform to the new juvenile sentencing legislation. 5
    5
    In affirming Kelsey’s sentences, the majority opinion cites Abrakata v.
    State, 
    168 So. 3d 251
    (Fla. 1st DCA 2015), and Lambert v. State, 
    170 So. 3d 74
    (Fla. 1st DCA 2015), both of which are distinguishable: Neither involved a
    violation of Graham v. Florida, 
    560 U.S. 48
    (2010). In Abrakata, the juvenile
    defendant was convicted of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm (a
    first-degree felony), and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison with a twenty-
    five-year mandatory 
    minimum. 168 So. 3d at 251
    , 251 n.1. On appeal to this court,
    10
    The appellant now seeks either resentencing under section 921.1402, Florida
    Statutes (2014), or judicial abolition of parole ineligibility. He maintains we
    “should invalidate either the statutory provisions that prohibit parole and require
    offenders to serve 85 percent of their sentences, or the provision in the new
    sentence review law for juveniles making review available only for offenses
    committed on or after July 1, 2014.” Under Henry, he is entitled to resentencing
    under section 921.1402, Florida Statutes, enacted last year, ch. 2014-220, Laws of
    Fla., § 3, but not to the invalidation of the statutory provisions he seeks in the
    Abrakata argued he was entitled “to a review of his sentence after 15 years under
    section 921.1402(2)(c), Florida Statutes.” 
    Id. at 251.
    This court rejected Abrakata’s
    argument, reasoning, “absent a violation of Graham, there is no legal basis to
    retroactively apply section 921.1402 (or any other provision of the juvenile
    sentencing legislation enacted in 2014) to the 2011 offense in this case.” 
    Id. at 252.
    In the present case, Kelsey’s initial sentence was plainly a violation of
    Graham.
    In Lambert, which was briefed before Henry v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly
    S147 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015), was decided, the juvenile defendant argued that his
    fifteen-year sentence for aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude “should be
    amended to reflect that he [wa]s entitled to parole eligibility pursuant to the
    reasoning in Graham and Judge Padovano’s concurring opinion in Smith v. State,
    
    93 So. 3d 371
    (Fla. 1st DCA 
    2012).” 170 So. 3d at 75
    . This court rejected that
    argument, stating: “We do not read Henry or Gridine[ v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly
    S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015),] to require that all juveniles convicted of nonhomicide
    crimes must be given an opportunity for early release by parole or its equivalent
    from their term-of-years sentences.” 
    Id. at 76.
    We concluded, moreover, Lambert’s
    fifteen-year sentence afforded him “a meaningful opportunity for release during his
    natural life,” because it did “not amount to anything close to a de facto life
    sentence.” 
    Id. Whether Henry
    applies to sentences for offenses committed before
    July 1, 2014, that are not resentences required under (Miller v. Alabama, 
    132 S. Ct. 2455
    (2012), or) Graham is not before us.
    11
    alternative.
    We did not originally “read Henry or Gridine[ v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly
    S149 (Fla. Mar. 19, 2015),] to require that all juveniles convicted of nonhomicide
    crimes must be given an opportunity for early release by parole or its equivalent
    from their term-of-years sentences. Rather, we read those cases to simply hold that
    juvenile offenders convicted of nonhomicide crimes cannot be sentenced to an
    individual or aggregate term-of-years sentence that amounts to a de facto life
    sentence that does not afford the offender a meaningful opportunity for release
    during his or her natural life.” Lambert v. State, 
    170 So. 3d 74
    , 76 (Fla. 1st DCA
    2015).
    But it is now clear that so-called Graham cases are to be treated just like
    cases revisited under Miller v. Alabama, 
    132 S. Ct. 2455
    (2012), and that an initial
    resentencing that, even though not a life sentence (or the equivalent) itself, does
    not conform to the requirements of Henry and section 921.1402 must be set aside
    and reimposed “in light of the new juvenile sentencing legislation.” Henry, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at S149; see Thomas v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly S479, S479 (Fla. Sept.
    4, 2015) (requiring a second resentencing “in conformance with the framework
    established in chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida”).
    In Horsley v. State, 
    160 So. 3d 393
    , 405 (Fla. 2015), the Florida Supreme
    Court had to fashion appropriate relief for “juvenile offenders whose sentences are
    12
    unconstitutional under Miller.” See 
    Miller, 132 S. Ct. at 2469
    (holding “the Eighth
    Amendment forbids a sentencing scheme that mandates life in prison without
    possibility of parole for juvenile offenders”). In the aftermath of Miller, the trial
    court had resentenced Horsley to life without parole, albeit after individualized
    consideration.   
    Horsley, 160 So. 3d at 396
    –97.          On direct review of his
    resentencing, our supreme court concluded that chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida,
    (now codified as sections 775.082, 921.1401, and 921.1402 of the Florida Statutes)
    should be applied to Horsley (and “all juvenile offenders whose sentences are
    unconstitutional under Miller”) even though Horsley’s offense was committed
    prior to the effective date of the new juvenile sentencing legislation. 
    Id. at 405,
    408 (saying “the Legislature has now provided that all juvenile offenders must
    receive individualized consideration before the imposition of a life sentence and
    that most juvenile offenders are eligible for a subsequent judicial review of their
    sentences”).
    On the same day Horsley was decided, our supreme court held that the new
    juvenile sentencing legislation also applies to nonhomicide offenders whose
    sentences are unconstitutional under Graham. See Henry, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at
    S149 (citing Horsley); see also Gridine, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at S151 (remanding “to
    the sentencing court to conduct proceedings in accordance with Henry” where
    juvenile nonhomicide offender originally received a seventy-year prison sentence).
    13
    Henry was a juvenile who had been convicted of multiple nonhomicide offenses
    for which he was originally sentenced to life plus sixty years’ imprisonment.
    Henry, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at S148. He was resentenced in the wake of Graham,
    and received an aggregate sentence of ninety years’ imprisonment. 
    Id. The Florida
    Supreme Court ruled that Henry’s ninety-year sentence was
    unconstitutional under Graham, not because the resentencing was a life sentence
    equivalent, but because it did not “afford any ‘meaningful opportunity to obtain
    release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation’” during his natural life.
    
    Id. at S149
    (quoting 
    Graham, 560 U.S. at 75
    ). The Henry court stated:
    We conclude that Graham prohibits the state trial
    courts from sentencing juvenile nonhomicide offenders
    to prison terms that ensure these offenders will be
    imprisoned without obtaining a meaningful opportunity
    to obtain future early release during their natural lives
    based on their demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.
    In light of the United States Supreme Court’s long-
    held and consistent view that juveniles are different—
    with respect to prison sentences that are lawfully
    imposable on adults convicted for the same criminal
    offenses—we conclude that, when tried as an adult, the
    specific sentence that a juvenile nonhomicide offender
    receives for committing a given offense is not dispositive
    as to whether the prohibition against cruel and unusual
    punishment is implicated. Thus, we believe that the
    Graham Court had no intention of limiting its new
    categorical rule to sentences denominated under the
    exclusive term of “life in prison.” Instead, we have
    determined that Graham applies to ensure that juvenile
    nonhomicide offenders will not be sentenced to terms of
    imprisonment without affording them a meaningful
    14
    opportunity for early release based on a demonstration of
    maturity and rehabilitation. See 
    Graham, 560 U.S. at 75
    .
    In light of Graham, and other Supreme Court
    precedent, we conclude that the Eighth Amendment will
    not tolerate prison sentences that lack a review
    mechanism for evaluating this special class of offenders
    for demonstrable maturity and reform in the future
    because any term of imprisonment for a juvenile is
    qualitatively different than a comparable period of
    incarceration is for an adult. See 
    id. at 70–71
    . . . .
    
    Id. (emphasis added).
    Just as in the present case, Henry’s original sentence did not
    comply with the dictates of Graham. Just as the supreme court ordered Henry to
    be resentenced under chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida, 
    id., an intervening
    resentencing notwithstanding, we should order resentencing in the present case
    under section 921.1402(2)(d) (as the same provision is now codified).           The
    supreme court’s decision in Thomas makes clear that the length of Henry’s initial
    resentencing is not controlling.
    As the majority and concurring opinions note, the Florida Supreme Court
    recently quashed our decision in Thomas v. State, 
    135 So. 3d 590
    (Fla. 1st DCA
    2014), and remanded for a second resentencing “in conformance with the
    framework established in chapter 2014-220, Laws of Florida.” Thomas, 
    40 Fla. L
    .
    Weekly at S479. This was despite the fact that Thomas, who was a juvenile
    convicted of first-degree murder and initially sentenced to mandatory life without
    parole, had already been resentenced in the wake of Miller to concurrent thirty-
    15
    and forty-year sentences. See 
    Thomas, 135 So. 3d at 590
    . Our supreme court
    ruled that Thomas was entitled to be resentenced under the new juvenile
    sentencing legislation, even though the sentences he received on resentencing were
    not themselves life sentences or the equivalent.              Kelsey’s situation is
    indistinguishable from Thomas’s in this regard.
    The majority opinion makes much of the fact the concurrent forty-five-year
    sentences Kelsey received for nonhomicide offenses on resentencing are not the
    life sentences that Graham condemned. 6 Even so, appellant is entitled to a review
    of his concurrent forty-five-year sentences pursuant to section 921.1402(2)(d),
    Florida Statues, which provides:
    A juvenile offender sentenced to a term of 20 years
    or more under s. 775.082(3)(c) [applicable to a juvenile
    convicted of an offense that is not under the murder
    statute but is “a life felony or is punishable by a term of
    imprisonment for life or by a term of years not exceeding
    6
    The majority opinion contends that Thomas v. State, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly
    S479 (Fla. Sept. 4, 2015), is distinguishable from the present case because Thomas
    is a Miller case “for which no valid remedy on resentencing was available until the
    recent legislation.” Ante at 5. Because “Kelsey’s crimes were nonhomicides for
    which a range of lawful punishments was available,” ante at 4, the majority
    opinion maintains that, in his and other Graham cases, a second resentencing is not
    required unless the first resentencing results in the imposition of a life or de facto
    life sentence. This overlooks the fact that the Florida Supreme Court rejected such
    a distinction between Miller and Graham cases in Henry, where it ruled the new
    juvenile sentencing legislation applied to juvenile nonhomicide offenders, even
    though “a wide range of valid term of years sentences [we]re available for
    juvenile[s] whose original sentence[s] were unconstitutional under Graham.” Ante
    at 5. Under the majority opinion’s view, juvenile homicide offenders would be
    treated more favorably than juvenile nonhomicide offenders.
    16
    life imprisonment” (or an offense reclassified as such)] is
    entitled to a review of his or her sentence after 20 years.
    If the juvenile offender is not resentenced at the initial
    review hearing, he or she is eligible for one subsequent
    review hearing 10 years after the initial review hearing.
    See § 775.082(3)(c), Fla. Stat. (2014). In Horsley, our supreme court explained:
    [J]uvenile offenders sentenced to a term of imprisonment
    of more than twenty years for a nonhomicide offense are
    entitled to a subsequent judicial review of their sentences.
    Ch. 2014-220, §§ 1, 3, Laws of Fla. [codified at sections
    775.082 and 921.1402, Fla. Stat.] This class of
    nonhomicide offenders is also eligible for “one
    subsequent review hearing 10 years after the initial
    review hearing,” if the juvenile nonhomicide offender is
    not resentenced at the initial review hearing. Ch. 2014-
    220, § 3, Laws of Fla. [codified at section 921.1402, Fla.
    Stat.] This is the only class of juvenile offenders entitled
    to more than one subsequent sentence 
    review. 160 So. 3d at 404
    –05.       Under Henry, Kelsey is entitled to a review of his
    concurrent forty-five-year sentences after twenty years of incarceration (and to a
    second review hearing in another ten years should he not be resentenced at the
    initial hearing). See § 921.1402(2)(d), Fla. Stat.
    Accordingly, I would reverse Kelsey’s sentences and remand for
    resentencing, “in conformance with the framework established in chapter 2014-
    220, Laws of Florida,” Thomas, 
    40 Fla. L
    . Weekly at S479, while joining the
    majority opinion as to the certified question.
    17
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 14-0518

Filed Date: 11/8/2015

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 11/9/2015