Colon v. State

Full title: Angel COLON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Date published: Feb 24, 2017

211 So. 3d 355 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2017)

Opinion

Case No. 5D16–1789

02-24-2017

Angel COLON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Kristen D. Dukes, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant. Angel Colon, Graceville, pro se. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Kristen D. Dukes, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Angel Colon, Graceville, pro se.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

In this Anders ¹ appeal, Appellant, who was convicted in 1997 of the crime of first-degree murder committed when he was a juvenile, challenges his present sentence of fifty years in prison with a review hearing under the new juvenile sentencing statutes² to take place after twenty-five years.³

1 Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967).

2 §§ 775.082, 921.1401, 921.1402, Fla. Stat. (2016).

3 Appellant was previously sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; however, based upon his motion and the recent decisions in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), and Falcon v. State, 162 So.3d 954 (Fla. 2015), the lower court granted his request for postconviction relief, vacated his life sentence, and ordered a resentencing.
--------

We affirm on all issues raised by Appellant. However, consistent with our recent opinion in Williams v. State , 724 So.2d 724 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017), we certify the following question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of great public importance:

DOES ALLEYNE v. UNITED STATES, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 186 L.Ed.2d 314 (2013) , REQUIRE THE JURY AND NOT THE TRIAL COURT TO MAKE FACTUAL FINDINGS UNDER SECTION 775.082(1)(b), FLORIDA STATUTES (2016), AS TO WHETHER A JUVENILE OFFENDER ACTUALLY KILLED, INTENDED TO KILL, OR ATTEMPTED TO KILL THE VICTIM?

AFFIRMED; QUESTION CERTIFIED.

EVANDER and LAMBERT, JJ., and JACOBUS, B.W., Senior Judge, Concur.