Walding v. State

328 So.3d 9 (Mem)

Timothy Adam WALDING, Petitioner,

v.STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 4D21-820

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

[November 3, 2021]

Timothy Adam Walding, Crestview, pro se.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Marc B. Hernandez, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for respondent.

Per Curiam.

In this petition for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, petitioner contends that his counsel failed to file a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b)(2) motion related to costs imposed at sentencing, as well as the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence. We grant the motion as to the failure to file a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion as to the costs. We deny the motion as to the minimum sentence.

Petitioner was convicted of sexual battery with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment while in possession of a weapon, and burglary with an assault or battery. The court sentenced him to fifty years in prison. While an appeal was pending to this court, the trial court entered an order related to costs. The appeal did not raise any cost issues, and no rule 3.800(b)(2) motion was filed. This Court affirmed by written opinion. Walding v. State , 307 So. 3d 754 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020).

Petitioner then filed this petition for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. First, he claims that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to file a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion challenging $1,382 in discretionary costs that were not orally pronounced. At sentencing, the trial court stated that it would impose standard fines and costs, but the written order imposed $1,382 in costs, labeled "Discretionary or Specific Offense/Required Costs." The order further stated that the $1,382 in costs are "Criminal Domestic/Rape/Child Adv Costs/FDLE CF[.]" No breakdown of the costs was included in the order, and the statutorily mandated costs did not add up to the amount imposed.

The court also imposed $7,306.50 in defense fees and costs which were not orally pronounced. The request for these costs was filed over a month after the written sentencing orders were filed, and the court granted the judgment for costs without a hearing over sixty days after sentencing.

Again, petitioner claims that counsel should have filed a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion challenging these fees and costs, as petitioner did not have notice and an opportunity to be heard on the amount. Finally, he claims that appellate counsel should have filed a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion challenging the fifty-year mandatory minimum sentence, because it was not orally pronounced.

We have held that appellate counsel can be ineffective for failing to file a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion. See Hernandez v. State , 137 So. 3d 542, 542 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) (citing Martinez v. State , 123 So. 3d 701, 703 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) ). Our court has also recognized that rule 3.800(b)(2) is available to a defendant to seek correction of a sentence imposing costs. See Walden v. State , 112 So. 3d 578, 579 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (concluding that "the defendant can seek relief from unauthorized costs, including the failure to orally impose such costs, through rule 3.800(b) after sentencing").

Based on Walden , appellate counsel could have filed a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion alleging that the $1,382 costs judgment was not sufficiently supported or orally pronounced. The State cannot account for all of the costs, nor can it say whether the costs were statutorily mandated. Appellate counsel should have realized that these costs may be discretionary, and petitioner was entitled to notice of any discretionary costs. See Finkelstein v. State , 944 So. 2d 1226, 1227 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) ("Statutorily mandated costs may be imposed without notice to the defendant. However, the trial court is required to give the defendant notice of the imposition of discretionary costs and to make an oral pronouncement of such costs and their statutory basis." (citations omitted)). Accordingly, petitioner would have been entitled to a hearing on these discretionary costs. See id. (reversing and remanding with instructions to the trial court to give Finkelstein notice of his right to a hearing on the matter and to schedule a hearing if one is requested).

Similarly, appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to file a rule 3.800(b)(2) motion challenging the $7,306.50 in defense fees and costs. These costs were not orally pronounced, and petitioner did not have an opportunity to contest them. The entire amount appears to be defense costs assessed pursuant to section 938.29, Florida Statutes (2018). That provision requires: "Attorney's fees and costs shall be set in all cases at no less ... than $100 per case when a felony offense is charged .... The court may set a higher amount upon a showing of sufficient proof of higher fees or costs incurred." § 938.29(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2018) (emphasis added). "[A] public defender fee amount that exceeds the statutory minimum fee thereby becomes discretionary and accordingly ‘must be orally pronounced at sentencing because such costs may not be imposed without affording the defendant notice and an opportunity to be heard.’ " Alexis v. State , 211 So. 3d 81, 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017) (quoting Mills v. State , 177 So. 3d 984, 985 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) ). The court in this case did not orally pronounce any fees or costs and petitioner was thus deprived of notice and an opportunity to be heard on the costs. See § 938.29(5), Fla. Stat. (2018) ; Alexis , 211 So. 3d at 83.

As to the mandatory minimum sentence, there was no ineffective assistance of counsel. The record demonstrates that the court orally imposed the mandatory minimum fifty-year sentence, as the court stated several times during sentencing that Count I would carry the mandatory minimum sentence.

We need not remand for another appeal, as that would be redundant to the petition in this case. Instead, we grant the petition and direct the trial court to conduct a hearing on the $1,382 costs assessed, as we cannot glean from this record whether such costs were mandatory under a statute or discretionary. The trial court should strike any discretionary costs which it had imposed without notice and opportunity for the defendant to be heard. Moreover, neither the State nor the defense provided any support for an amount higher than the statutorily mandated $100 public defender fee at sentencing. Consistent with Alexis , "we reverse the public defender lien and remand to the trial court to reduce the public defender fee to the statutorily required $100 or to hold a hearing with proper...