Gerald Paul Quaif v. State of Florida

Summary

The Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida affirmed Gerald Paul Quaif’s judgment and sentence in an Anders appeal. The court held that correcting a harmless clerical error in the statutory citation for a five percent surcharge is discretionary rather than mandatory, and declined to remand for correction; Judge Wallis concurred in part and dissented in part.

Holdings

1. Correcting a clerical error that is harmless to the defendant in an Anders case is, at most, discretionary; the appellate court is not required to remand for correction.
2. The court would not remand to correct the erroneous statutory citation because the error was harmless to the defendant and correction was discretionary rather than mandatory.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an appellate court must remand an Anders case to correct a harmless clerical error in the defendant's written sentence.
2. Whether the incorrect statutory citation for the five-percent surcharge required correction despite the absence of prejudice or reversible error.

Disposition

affirmed