Demetric L. Grooms v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledOctober 5, 2020
Docket1D20-1430
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D20-1430
_____________________________
DEMETRIC L. GROOMS,
Petitioner,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Respondent.
_____________________________
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus—Original Jurisdiction.
October 5, 2020
PER CURIAM.
We dismiss this petition for writ of habeas corpus. See Baker
v. State, 878 So. 2d 1236 (Fla. 2004) (dismissing habeas corpus
petition as unauthorized and explaining that such a petition may
not seek postconviction relief based on a claim that could have been
or was raised at trial or in a direct appeal, or that would be
untimely or successive if it were asserted through a rule 3.850
motion). We write, however, to briefly address Petitioner’s
argument that his sentence is illegal and that this Court’s
affirmance in case 1D18-5049 of the denial of his motion to correct
illegal sentence was a manifest injustice.
Petitioner was sentenced for the offense of attempted second-
degree murder to a mandatory minimum term of life in prison
under section 775.087(2)(a)3., Florida Statutes, commonly referred
to as the 10-20-Life statute. He relies on Hatten v. State, 203 So.
3d 142 (Fla. 2016), and Byrd v. State, 238 So. 3d 917 (Fla. 1st DCA
2018), but unlike the sentences at issue in those cases, Petitioner’s
sentence does not include a term beyond the mandatory minimum
term selected within the range allowed by the 10-20-Life statute.
Thus, Petitioner’s sentence is authorized entirely by the statute,
and no additional statutory authority is required to support his
sentence.
Petitioner is warned that any future filings in this Court
raising the same issue may result in the imposition of sanctions,
including a prohibition against any further pro se filings in this
Court and a referral to the appropriate institution for disciplinary
procedures. See § 944.279(1), Fla. Stat. (2019) (providing that “[a]
prisoner who is found by a court to have brought a frivolous or
malicious suit, action, claim, proceeding, or appeal . . . or to have
brought a frivolous or malicious collateral criminal proceeding . . .
is subject to disciplinary procedures pursuant to the rules of the
Department of Corrections”).
LEWIS, NORDBY, and LONG, JJ., concur.
_____________________________
Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
_____________________________
Demetric L. Grooms, pro se, Petitioner.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Respondent.
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