Opinion
No. 4D06-39.
April 26, 2006.
Appeal of order denying rule 3.850 motion from the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County; Richard I. Wennet, Judge; L.T. Case No. 03-247 CFA02.
Terence M. Scott, Belle Glade, pro se.
Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Melanie Dale Surber, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Terence Scott appeals the summary denial of his rule 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief. The trial court denied appellant's 3.850 motion as untimely without ruling on the merits of appellant's claims or ordering a response from the state. A judgment and sentence do not become final until the thirty-day period for filing an appeal has expired. Napolitano v. State, 782 So.2d 1012 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); Caracciolo v. State, 564 So.2d 1163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). Scott was sentenced on September 4, 2003, and his conviction became final on October 7, 2003. Thus, as the state correctly concedes, Scott's post-conviction motion filed on October 3, 2005 was timely. Accordingly, the trial court's denial of these claims is reversed and remanded for consideration of the merits of the motion for post-conviction relief.
FARMER, GROSS and MAY, JJ., concur.