Opinion
No. 1D97-4780.
Opinion filed August 31, 2000.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Columbia County; E. Vernon Douglas, Judge.
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; and Tracy T. Murphy, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; and Veronica S. McCrakin, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
In Collins v. State, 25 Fla. L. Weekly S500(Fla. June 22, 2000), the supreme court quashed that portion of our decision in this case that affirmed the departure sentence imposed, Collins v. State, 732 So.2d 1149 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), and remanded for further consideration of that issue in light of Maddox v. State, 25 Fla. L. Weekly S367 (Fla. May 11, 2000).
In this case, the trial court imposed an upward departure sentence, explaining at the sentencing hearing its reasons for doing so. However, the trial court never filed written reasons justifying the departure. As we read Maddox, in cases such as this that do not involve consent by the defendant as part of a plea agreement to an upward departure sentence, we are required to reverse the departure sentence because no written reasons were filed, and to remand with directions that the trial court impose a guidelines sentence. See Maddox, 25 Fla. L. Weekly at S372-73; Pope v. State, 561 So.2d 554 (Fla. 1990). Accordingly, the departure sentence is reversed, and the case is remanded with directions that the trial court impose a guidelines sentence. Except as modified by this opinion, our prior opinion remains in effect.
ALLEN and WEBSTER, JJ., CONCUR.