State v. Couch

HERSEY, Judge.

Appellant entered a guilty plea to a charge of purchasing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. The plea bargain terms provided that he would be sentenced to confinement for a period of three and one-half years, a downward departure from the guidelines, and that no mandatory minimum sentence would be imposed. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court orally gave a sufficient reason for downward departure. See Barbera v. State, 505 So.2d 413, 413-14 (Fla.1987) (drug dependency may be given as a reason for a downward departure); see also State v. Martin, 551 So.2d 600 (Fla. 4th…