Sylvester Dupree Harden, Jr. v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledNovember 10, 2021
Docket2D20-2936
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
SYLVESTER DUPREE HARDEN, JR.,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
No. 2D20-2936
November 10, 2021
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Polk County; Donald G. Jacobsen,
Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Julius J. Aulisio,
Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and C. Todd
Chapman, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Sylvester Dupree Harden, Jr., appeals his judgment and
sentence for one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. We
affirm Mr. Harden's judgment and sentence in all respects, but we
remand to the trial court for entry of a corrected scoresheet.
Mr. Harden was sentenced to sixty months in prison followed
by 120 months' probation pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement
in exchange for the second and third counts of unlawful sexual
activity with a minor with which he was charged being nolle
prossed. Mr. Harden's sentencing guideline scoresheet reflected
eighty victim injury points for penetration. Because Mr. Harden
pled to a charge that alleged union and/or penetration, victim
injury points for penetration could not be assessed absent a specific
finding of penetration or Mr. Harden stipulating to the fact of
penetration. See Alexis v. State, 258 So. 3d 471, 472β73 (Fla. 4th
DCA 2018) ("When a defendant pleads to an offense that does not
require proof of sexual penetration as charged, victim injury points
for penetration cannot be assessed unless the defendant stipulates
that penetration occurred or agrees to inclusion of the points as
part of a plea bargain."); Mann v. State, 974 So. 2d 552, 554 (Fla.
5th DCA 2008) ("[W]hen the information charges penetration or
union, the assessment of victim penetration points is error absent a
specific finding that penetration occurred."). Neither occurred here.
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As a result, Mr. Harden's scoresheet was incorrectly calculated.
See Alexis, 258 So. 3d at 473; Blair v. State, 201 So. 3d 800, 803
(Fla. 4th DCA 2016); Hatten v. State, 143 So. 3d 1103, 1105 & n.2
(Fla. 5th DCA 2014); Mann, 974 So. 2d at 554.
Mr. Harden is not entitled to resentencing, however, because
the record conclusively shows that the trial court would have
imposed the same sentence regardless of the scoresheet error. See
Sanders v. State, 35 So. 3d 864, 870β71 (Fla. 2010) ("When a
scoresheet error is challenged on direct appeal, . . . the error 'is
harmless if the record conclusively shows that the trial court would
have imposed the same sentence using a correct scoresheet.' "
(quoting Brooks v. State, 969 So. 2d 238, 241 (Fla. 2007))); Henion
v. State, 247 So. 3d 537, 538 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018) ("While we agree
that the scoresheet was incorrectly calculated, we find that
sentencing was proper because the record shows that the trial
judge would have imposed the same sentence on appellant
regardless of the scoresheet error. Thus, we affirm appellant's
sentence but remand to the trial court for the entry of a properly
calculated scoresheet."). Accordingly, we affirm Mr. Harden's
sentence but remand to the trial court for the entry of a properly
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calculated scoresheet. Mr. Harden need not be present for the
purposes of correcting the scoresheet on remand. See Harmon v.
State, 284 So. 3d 1080, 1081 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019).
Affirmed; remanded with directions.
MORRIS, C.J., and SLEET and LUCAS, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
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