Opinion
Case No. 4D03-1725.
Opinion filed December 3, 2003.
Appeal of order denying rule 3.850 motion from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; James I. Cohen, Judge; L.T. Case No. 00-18733 CF10A.
Theodore Medina, Monticello, pro se.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Heidi L. Bettendorf, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Appellant's rule 3.850 motion for postconviction relief was denied, but we reverse for either the attachment of additional portions of the record conclusively showing appellant is entitled to no relief or for an evidentiary hearing. We do so only on the ground that appellant entered into a plea bargain agreement providing for a fifteen year sentence based on his counsel promising him that the sentence could be reduced by a rule 3.800(c) motion. Such a motion was filed and denied. Appellant alleges that if he had known rule 3.800(c) motions are discretionary and rarely granted, he would not have agreed to the plea bargain.
The trial court summarily denied the motion based on the following language in the plea agreement: "[o]ther than the proposed sentence set forth above, no one has made any promises or guarantees to me . . . I am doing this freely and voluntarily." We conclude that this language is insufficient to conclusively rebut appellant's claim under State v. Leroux, 689 So.2d 235 (Fla. 1996); Brana v. State, 830 So.2d 942 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). We therefore reverse.
FARMER, C.J., POLEN and KLEIN, JJ., concur.
NOT FINAL UNTIL DISPOSITION OF ANY TIMELY FILED MOTION FOR REHEARING.