Jonathan Shortridge v. State of Florida
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledOctober 16, 2020
Docket2D19-1376
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
JONATHAN SHORTRIDGE, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D19-1376
)
STATE OF FLORIDA, )
)
Appellee. )
___________________________________)
Opinion filed October 16, 2020.
Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. P.
9.141(b)(2) from the Circuit Court for
Lee County; Joseph C. Fuller, Jr.,
Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public
Defender, and Pamela H. Izakowitz,
Assistant Public Defender, Bartow,
for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Kiersten E.
Jensen, Assistant Attorney General,
Tampa, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Jonathan Shortridge appeals the denial of his motion for postconviction
relief filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. As in Croft v. State,
295 So. 3d 307 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020), the postconviction court lacked jurisdiction to
withdraw a prior order that granted Mr. Shortridge's motion for postconviction relief and
enter the order denying Mr. Shortridge's motion for postconviction relief. Accordingly,
we reverse.
In his 3.850 motion, Mr. Shortridge argued that his sentence was
unconstitutional in light of the decision in Atwell v. State, 197 So. 3d 1040 (Fla. 2016),
among others. Relying on Atwell, the postconviction court granted the motion in
February 2017 and ordered a resentencing hearing. The State did not appeal the order.
Two years later, while Mr. Shortridge was awaiting resentencing, the State
moved for reconsideration of the postconviction court's order, relying on State v. Michel,
257 So. 3d 3 (Fla. 2018). In an order entered February 2019, the court granted the
State's motion, withdrew the order granting resentencing, and denied Mr. Shortridge's
motion for postconviction relief. However, the postconviction court lacked jurisdiction to
withdraw the February 2017 order. See Croft, 295 So. 3d at 309; see also Wittemen v.
State, 45 Fla. L. Weekly D2008, D2009 (Fla. 2d DCA Aug. 21, 2020) ("The
postconviction court therefore lacked jurisdiction to rescind its original order on the basis
of an untimely rehearing motion by the State."). As such, we reverse the postconviction
court's February 2019 order, reinstate the February 2017 order, and remand for the
postconviction court to conduct a resentencing hearing. We note, as we did in Croft,
that "the decisional law effective at the time of the resentencing applies." 295 So. 3d at
309 (quoting State v. Fleming, 61 So. 3d 399, 400 (Fla. 2011)). Thus, it is possible that
Mr. Shortridge may still receive the same sentence upon resentencing.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
CASANUEVA, MORRIS, and LUCAS, JJ., Concur.
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