Walter Hall v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledDecember 8, 2021
Docket1D20-1089
StatusPublished
📰 News Coverage: Read the LAWS.com news report on this case
Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D20-1089
_____________________________
WALTER HALL,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
_____________________________
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County.
Lester Bass, Judge.
December 8, 2021
WINOKUR, J.
Walter Hall sought resentencing, arguing that his sentence
violated Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), under the
authority of Atwell v. State, 197 So. 3d 1040 (Fla. 2016). The court
denied the motion, on the ground that the Florida Supreme Court
overruled Atwell in State v. Michel, 257 So. 3d 3 (Fla. 2018), and
Franklin v. State, 258 So. 3d 1239 (Fla. 2018). On appeal, Hall
asserts that the trial court could not deny his motion because it
had already granted resentencing, prior to the Michel and
Franklin decisions, by its order appointing counsel to him for
resentencing. We reject Hall’s claim. See Smith v. State, 299 So. 3d
536 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020) (holding that a trial court’s order
appointing counsel to a postconviction movant for a postconviction
claim that resentencing was required was not a final order on the
postconviction motion granting resentencing or the functional
equivalent of an order granting resentencing); see also Malone v.
State, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D1842 (Fla. 1st DCA Aug. 17, 2021)
(same).
Even if we had not already ruled on this matter, we note that
the Florida Supreme Court, in a similar situation, held that an
order that vacates a sentence and orders new sentencing
proceedings is a final order, even before the resentencing occurs.
State v. Jackson, 306 So. 3d 936 (Fla. 2020). Because the order at
issue here did not vacate the previously-imposed sentence, it did
not constitute a final order granting the postconviction motion. *
AFFIRMED.
NORDBY and TANENBAUM, JJ., concur.
_____________________________
Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
_____________________________
Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Glen P. Gifford, Assistant
Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and David Welch, Assistant
Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
* We reject Hall’s claim that the record was insufficient to
show conclusively that he was entitled to no relief. Fla. R. App. P.
9.141(b)(2)(D).
2