Aguirre-Garcia v. State
Aguirre-Garcia v. State
Opinion of the Court
Pedro Aguirre-Garcia appeals his judgments and sentences for battery, stalking after injunction, and criminal mischief, arguing that after sentencing he should have been permitted to withdraw his plea pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.170(i). Because we conclude that he was entitled to withdraw his plea, we reverse.
Prior to September 15, 2002, Mr. Aguirre-Garcia’s former wife had obtained a domestic violence injunction against him. On that date, Mr. Aguirre-Garcia had a dispute with his former wife during which he confronted her when she left her place
As a result of this incident and prior stalking allegations, the State charged Mr. Aguirre-Garcia with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon,
Mr. Aguirre-Garcia followed his attorney’s advice. The trial court accepted his plea and sentencing was deferred pending trial on the remaining charge. Thereafter, his lawyer was successful at the trial strategy and the jury returned a verdict for the lesser offense of simple battery.
Unfortunately, Mr. Aguirre-Garcia’s lawyer was a better trial lawyer than mathematician. When the scoresheet was calculated for the three offenses before the court, it totaled 57.2 points, which is more than the 44 points that allows a nonstate prison sanction.
Based on the scoresheet, the trial court sentenced Mr. Aguirre-Garcia to five years’ imprisonment on the offense of stalking, consecutive to concurrent terms of 364 days’ imprisonment for each of the misdemeanors. Thereafter, Mr. Aguirre-Garcia’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw the plea based on the misadvice that he had given his client. Mr. Aguirre-Garcia’s lawyer withdrew, and another lawyer was appointed to represent him.
At the hearing on the motion, Mr. Aguirre-Garcia’s trial attorney testified
When the trial court denied the motion, the First District had not issued Waldrop v. State, 882 So.2d 1047 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004). In Waldrop, the court considered a similar case in which the lawyer had mi-sadvised his client that probation was a possibility when the scoresheet called for a minimum term of incarceration. The First District concluded that this error resulted in a “manifest injustice.” Id. at 1048. We reach the same result in this case.
On remand, the trial court must allow Mr. Aguirre-Garcia to withdraw his plea and proceed to trial on the remaining charges.
Reversed and remanded.
. See § 784.045(2), Fla. Stat. (2002).
. See § 784.048(4), Fla. Stat. (2002).
. See § 806.13, Fla. Stat. (2002).
. Mr. Aguirre-Garcia had a prior record of five misdemeanors, which created one point on the applicable scoresheet.
.The attorney did not understand how he made this mathematical error, but it appears likely that he assumed the stalking offense was a level 6 offense when it is actually a level 7 offense.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.