Opinion
No. 4D14-602
04-13-2016
ROGYNE O'NEAL, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Paul E. Petillo, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Heidi L. Bettendorf, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Stephen A. Rapp, Judge; L.T. Case No. 502001CF004304AXXXMB. Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Paul E. Petillo, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Heidi L. Bettendorf, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee. PER CURIAM.
We reverse the trial court's order denying Rogyne O'Neal's motion to correct his life sentence for a murder he committed as a juvenile in 2001. In Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455, 2469 (2012), the Supreme Court held that life sentences (without the possibility of parole) for juvenile homicide offenders were unconstitutional. This court held in Cotto v. State, 141 So. 3d 615, 617 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), and the Florida Supreme Court held in Falcon v. State, 162 So. 3d 954, 962 (Fla. 2015), that Miller applies retroactively. As properly conceded by the state, O'Neal is entitled to a new sentencing hearing.
We find no merit in the remaining issues raised on appeal.
Reversed and remanded. CIKLIN, C.J., WARNER and KLINGENSMITH, JJ., concur.
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Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.