Joshua Levesque v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledAugust 17, 2020
Docket1D19-4506
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
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No. 1D19-4506
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JOSHUA LEVESQUE,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
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On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
Maureen Horkan, Judge.
August 17, 2020
PER CURIAM.
Appellant challenges the trial court’s summary denial of his
motion for postconviction relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of
Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). We affirm.
Appellant was charged with first-degree murder for a crime
he committed when he was seventeen years old. On March 25,
2004, Appellant pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of second-
degree murder. Appellant was sentenced to fifty years in prison,
with a twenty-five-year mandatory minimum term, to be followed
by ten years of probation. Appellant argues that this sentence is
unconstitutional because it violates Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S.
460 (2012).
Appellant claims that he is entitled to resentencing because
he was a minor at the time that he committed the offense and his
sentence did not provide him with a review mechanism that
allowed him the opportunity to demonstrate his maturity and
rehabilitation to obtain early release. Appellant also argues that
the length of his sentence is sufficient to warrant a sentence review
at some point during his incarceration. However, we have held
that under Miller “resentencing is not required where a homicide
defendant’s sentence is not a life sentence, a mandatory life
sentence or a de facto life sentence.” Wagner v. State, 285 So. 3d
412, 413 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019) (citing Davis v. State, 214 So. 3d 799
(Fla. 1st DCA 2017)). The Florida Supreme Court recently reached
the same conclusion in Pedroza v. State, 291 So. 3d 541, 548 (Fla.
2020), in holding that Miller is not implicated unless the sentence
“meets the threshold requirement of being a life sentence or the
functional equivalent of a life sentence.”
Here, Appellant’s sentence for his homicide offense is not a life
sentence, and his young age at the time of sentencing means that
he has a reasonable probability of living long enough to be
released. See Williams v. State, 197 So. 3d 569 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016)
(holding that fifty-year sentence with a twenty-year mandatory
minimum term was not a de facto life sentence). Thus, Appellant’s
sentence is not unconstitutional, and he is not entitled to
resentencing or a sentencing review.
AFFIRMED.
B.L. THOMAS, OSTERHAUS, and BILBREY, JJ., concur.
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Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
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Joshua Levesque, pro se, Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
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