Richard Hetherington v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledApril 24, 2020
Docket2D18-2539
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
RICHARD DEAN HETHERINGTON, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D18-2539
)
STATE OF FLORIDA, )
)
Appellee. )
)
Opinion filed April 24, 2020.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for
Charlotte County; Donald H. Mason,
Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender,
and Jean Marie Henne, Special
Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for
Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and C. Todd Chapman,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for
Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
A jury convicted Richard Hetherington of burglary of a dwelling and petit
theft. On this appeal from the judgment and sentence, Hetherington argues that the trial
court erroneously adjudicated and sentenced him for grand theft and erred in denying
his motion to suppress statements and that his trial counsel was ineffective because
she conceded to the jury his guilt of trespass.
We reject Hetherington's suppression argument without comment and
affirm the judgment and sentence, but we remand for correction of a scrivener's error in
the judgment. Hetherington was originally charged in count one with burglary of a
dwelling, a second-degree felony, and in count two with grand theft, a third-degree
felony. On the first day of trial, the State orally amended the charge in count two to petit
theft, a second-degree misdemeanor. Hetherington was tried for petit theft and found
guilty by a properly instructed jury. The sentencing scoresheet indicates that the
offense of conviction was petit theft, and the trial court sentenced him to time served.
The judgment, however, indicates that the jury found Hetherington guilty of felony grand
theft. The State concedes that the judgment is in error.
As to Hetherington's claim that his counsel rendered ineffective
assistance, we decline to consider this claim on direct appeal. See Corzo v. State, 806
So. 2d 642, 645 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). Accordingly, we affirm the judgment and sentence
for petit theft and remand for the trial court to correct the scrivener's error in the
judgment. Hetherington does not have to be present for this ministerial act. See Devlin
v. State, 224 So. 3d 803, 804 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017). Our affirmance is without prejudice
to Hetherington's right to raise his ineffective-assistance claim in a timely and facially
sufficient motion for postconviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure
3.850.
Affirmed; remanded with directions.
SILBERMAN, LUCAS, and ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JJ., Concur.
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