Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2016

Johnny Trevon Cook v. State of Florida

Johnny Trevon Cook v. State of Florida
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided April 27, 2016 · Stevenson, Gross, Forst
190 So. 3d 215; 2016 WL 1688486; 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 6416 (Southern Reporter, Third Series)

Johnny Trevon Cook v. State of Florida

Opinion

STEVENSON, J.

Johnny Cook appeals his conviction of four counts of attempted second-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of shooting a deadly missile, and one count of possession of a firearm by a minor, and his sentence of an aggregate ninety-three years in prison. We affirm his conviction, but reverse the sentence and remand for resentencing.

A life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile nonhomicide offender is unconstitutional, under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 82, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010), as modified (July 6, 2010). The Florida Supreme Court has recently held that Graham also applies to aggregate term-of-years sentences. See Gridine v. State, 175 So.3d 672, 674-75 (Fla. 2015) (holding juvenile’s aggregate seventy-year sentence for attempted first-degree murder unconstitutional under Graham), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 136 S.Ct. 1387, 194 L.Ed.2d 380 (2016); Henry v. State, 175 So.3d 675, 679-80 (Fla. 2015) (holding juvenile’s aggregate ninety-year sentence unconstitutional under Graham), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 136 S.Ct. 1455, 194 L.Ed.2d 552 (2016). Specifically, the court held “Graham is implicated when a juvenile nonhomicide offender’s sentence dobs not' afford any ‘meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and' rehabilitation.’ ” Henry, 175 So.3d at 679 (quoting Graham, 560 U.S. at 75, 130 S.Ct. 2011).

Cook was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the crimes. The trial court sentenced him to an aggregate of ninety-three years imprisonment for non-homicide offenses. The sentence for each count was a mandatory minimum. His sentence did not give him a “meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation,” and thus was unconstitutional. See Graham, 560 U.S. at 75, 130 S,Ct. 2011. We therefore reverse Cook’s sentence and remand for resentencing in accordance with Gridine and Henry,

Reversed and remanded for resentenc-ing.

GROSS and FORST, JJ., concur.

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