Williams v. State

FARMER, Judge.

This is a companion case to Rosado v. State, 691 So.2d 595 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). The defendant here was part of the same group of youths who beat a 38-year old man to death. All of the defendants, including Williams, pleaded nolo contendere to manslaughter without any agreement as to the sentence. As in Rosado, the only issues relate to sentencing.

The trial judge based his departure enhancement sentence in this case on victim vulnerability and an escalating pattern of criminal conduct. As to the issue of victim vulnerability, the trial court gave the identical reason he gave in…