State v. Magrath
State v. Magrath
Opinion of the Court
Kathleen Magrath pled guilty on September 8, 1986, to two counts of accepting unlawful campaign contributions and one count of improperly certifying her campaign report. She was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to three concurrent one-year terms of probation and 750 hours of community service. The trial court on November 4, 1986, sua sponte, modified Ma-grath’s sentence. Pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b), the trial court withheld adjudication and reduced the probation period to one year and the community service to 350 hours.
Both the state and Magrath ask us to resolve a conflict they perceive between Thompson v. State, 485 So.2d 42 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), and State v. Beardsley, 464 So.2d 188 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985).
Appeal dismissed.
. Although the trial court had the authority to do so, the better practice when modifying a sentence is a formal proceeding with the parties and a reporter present. The state makes no due process argument.
. Were we to rule on the merits, we would follow Judge Zehmer’s well reasoned opinion in Thompson v. State, 485 So.2d 42 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), and reject the rationale of State v. Beardsley, 464 So.2d 188 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985). We hasten to add, however, that we do not perceive a conflict between the two opinions. According to the facts of Beardsley, the trial court acted well outside the 60-day jurisdictional time frame in clear violation of Rule 3.800(b).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.