Hoover v. State

SMITH, Judge.

Appellant contends that he was given an invalid departure sentence. We agree and remand for resentencing within the guidelines.

Appellant was permitted to plead to a first degree felony sexual battery and lewd assault. At sentencing, notwithstanding the guidelines recommended range of seven to nine years, the trial court gave a departure sentence of thirty years, basing his decision upon three written reasons: (1) emotional trauma to the victim; (2) presumptive guidelines sentence woefully inappropriate given the nature and severity of the crime and all the factual circumstances…