Acevedo v. State

Petitioner was convicted of lewd and lascivious battery, three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, and lewd and lascivious conduct. Petitioner was sentenced to life in prison on each count, to run concurrently. Petitioner was sentenced to a mandatory minimum of twenty-five years after the trial court declared him to be a dangerous sexual felony offender (DSFO). Petitioner later filed a motion pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(a), contending that the predicate conviction the trial court used to qualify him as a DSFO was insufficient. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the sentence. The Supreme Court approved the decision below, holding (1) under the Dangerous Sexual Felony Offender Act, a conviction for an offense under Fla. Stat. 800.04 constitutes a “similar offense under a former destination” to those offenses enumerated in the Act; and (2) therefore, the Fourth District did not err in affirming Petitioner’s designation as a DSFO offender. View "Acevedo v. State" on Justia Law