Dennis Lamar Flint v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledJanuary 6, 2021
Docket2D18-2742
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
DENNIS LAMAR FLINT, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D18-2742
)
STATE OF FLORIDA, )
)
Appellee. )
)
Opinion filed January 6, 2021.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Lee
County; Thomas S. Reese, Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender,
and Fredrick W. Vollrath, Special Assistant
Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Dennis Lamar Flint, pro se.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Allison C. Heim,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for
Appellee.
CASANUEVA, Judge.
Dennis Lamar Flint appeals his judgments and sentences on two counts of
battery on a law enforcement officer (counts one and two) and one count each of
resisting an officer with violence (count three), battery on a police dog (count four), and
possession of a controlled substance (count five). Mr. Flint was sentenced as a habitual
felony offender (HFO)1 to concurrent terms of seven years' prison on counts one, two,
and three, with a consecutive five-year prison releasee reoffender (PRR)2 sentence on
count three; time served on count four; and a concurrent term of five years' prison on
count five. As the State has properly conceded, the sentence as to count three,
resisting arrest with violence, exceeds the statutory maximum for a third-degree felony
under the HFO statute. We therefore reverse the sentence as to count three; we affirm
as to the convictions and remaining sentences without discussion.
"A trial court may impose a single sentence pursuant to both the PRR and
habitual felony offender (HFO) statutes but the HFO portion of the sentence must be
longer than the PRR portion of the sentence." Atmore v. State, 242 So. 3d 1201, 1202
(Fla. 2d DCA 2018); see also Wallace v. State, 128 So. 3d 139, 140 (Fla. 2d DCA
2013). The trial court did not err in these aspects of the sentence.
However, the maximum sentence for a third-degree felony under the HFO
statute is ten years. § 775.084(4)(a)3, Fla. Stat. (2017). Here, the sentence for count
three, a third-degree felony, imposes a five-year PRR sentence consecutive to a seven-
year HFO sentence, resulting in a term of twelve years. See § 775.082(9)(a)3.d
(requiring a five-year minimum mandatory PRR sentence for a third-degree felony);
§ 775.084(4)(a)3 (allowing an HFO sentence not to exceed ten years for a third-degree
felony); § 843.01, Fla. Stat. (2017) (stating that resisting an officer with violence is a
third-degree felony).
1§ 775.084, Fla. Stat. (2017).
2§ 775.082.
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We therefore reverse the sentence as to count three and remand for the
trial court to enter a sentence consistent with the above that does not to exceed ten
years. In all other respects, we affirm.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded.
SILBERMAN and ATKINSON, JJ., Concur.
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