Supreme Court of Florida, 1997

McEachern v. State

Supreme Court of Florida · Decided November 20, 1997 · Anstead, Grimes, Harding, Kogan, Overton, Shaw, Wells

701 So. 2d 865; 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 723; 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1960; 1997 WL 717873 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

Cases that cite this one

2 later published cases cite this decision.

State v. Hewitt (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1997)
State v. Powell (Fla. 1997)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

SHAW, Justice.

We have for review State v. McEachern, 700 So.2d 1 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997), wherein the court certified the following question:

IS A SENTENCE ENTIRELY SUSPENDED ON THE CONDITION THAT THE DEFENDANT SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE COMMUNITY CONTROL AN ILLEGAL SENTENCE AS CONSTI*866TUTING AN UNAUTHORIZED SENTENCING ALTERNATIVE WHICH MAY BE APPEALED BY THE STATE AND VACATED ON DIRECT APPEAL?

We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We quash McEachern based on State v. Powell, No. 89,964, — So.2d -, 1997 WL 718233 (Fla. Nov. 20, 1997), wherein we held that as long as there exists a valid reason for a downward departure, a trial court may impose a true split sentence in which the entire period of incarceration is suspended.

It is so ordered.

KOGAN, C.J., OVERTON, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., and GRIMES, Senior Justice, concur.

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