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403 So. 2d 1131

Docket No. 80-951.

Trent v. State

Christopher TRENT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided September 23, 1981.

Rehearing Denied October 14, 1981.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1981-09-23

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently January 2003

6 state decisions

Relies on 384 So. 2d 183 - Dade County v. Goldstein · 398 So. 2d 1010 - Richardson v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1981-09-23

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¶1Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Anthony Calvello, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

¶2Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Stewart J. Bellus, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

¶3LETTS, Chief Judge.

¶4This cause is reversed and remanded upon the authority of Richardson v. State,398 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) which we adopt as the law of the Fourth District.

¶5We do not like this result and entertain serious doubts as to whether the legislature ever intended such preferential treatment for youthful offenders who commit armed robbery. Nonetheless a "life felony" is most definitely a completely different animal from a felony in the first degree punishable by life imprisonment. See Section 775.082(3), Florida Statutes (1979) and Dade County v. Goldstein,384 So.2d 183 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980).

¶6There remains the question of why it is not harmless error to sentence a youthful offender to a three year minimum term of imprisonment under Section 775.087, if the court could have sentenced him to six years, four of which could have been by actual imprisonment under Section 958.05. The answer is that under the minimum mandatory provisions of Section 775.087 we note that the prisoner is not eligible for parole or statutory gain-time. Accordingly, the *1132 harmless error doctrine is not appropriate here.

¶7REVERSED AND REMANDED.

¶8BERANEK and MOORE, JJ., concur.

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