Circuit Court Required To Correct Written Sentence To Conform To Prior Orally Pronounced Sentence

By Author: Darron Yan
Total Articles: 2
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In the case of Odum v. State of Florida the 5th District Court reversed the ruling of the trial court denying defendant's motion for postconviction relief.

The defendant was found guilty of vehicular homicide and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury by a jury The defendant drove his vehicle at excessive speed through a red light and into a minivan. The accident killed 1 person in the other vehicle and also the serious injury of another. Defendant had alcoholic beverages in his vehicle & smelled of alcohol. The trial court pronounced a prison sentence of imprisonment of 20 years on count one & 5 years on count two, for a total sentence of 25 years imprisonment. Five days later, the circuit court submitted a written ruling increasing the prison sentence on the first count 1 to twenty-five years imprisonment, with the two counts to run concurrently.

The defendant didn't raise the change in his sentence on direct appeal; instead, he argued he was improperly sentenced as a habitual ...
... felony offender. The district court of appeal affirmed both the convictions and sentences. In the defendant's postconviction motion, defendant complained that the circuit court was not permitted to alter his sentence once he began to serve the sentence.

The district court of appeal ruled that the reason for the change in the sentence was not clear from the record. The record reflected that the court orally sentenced the defendant to twenty years on count 1 and 5 years on count two, to be served consecutively, but the written sentence was 25 years on count one and a 5 year suspended sentence on count 2, concurrent. In denying defendant's motion for post conviction relief, the trial court concluded that the written sentence was proper because the overall term (twenty-five years) is the same as the oral sentence, so the defendant was not prejudiced.
The district court of appeal remanded for resentencing because defendant correctly asserted that the circuit court was obliged to conform the written sentencing document to the orally pronounced sentence.

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