Wilson v. State

Although I prefer the result of the majority opinion to that suggested by this dissent, I cannot fully concur. It appears that the supreme court’s answer to the certified question in its most recent decision on this issue prohibits an upward departure in this case. Smith v. State, 579 So.2d 75 (Fla.1991). Based on the answer to the certified question in Smith, it appears that trial courts may not depart upward from the sentencing guidelines based “solely on a persistent pattern of criminal activity, closely related in time, although the pattern is not escalating towards more violent or…