Michel Hernandez Sarmiento v. State of Florida

Summary

The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed that Michel Hernandez Sarmiento's Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.801 motion seeking additional jail credit was legally insufficient. The court reversed and remanded with instructions to allow him sixty days to amend the motion.

Holdings

1. The motion was legally insufficient.
2. When a legally insufficient post-conviction motion appears to be the defendant's first attempt to file a facially sufficient motion, the trial court should deny it without prejudice and allow the defendant sixty days to amend.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court properly determined that Sarmiento's Rule 3.801 motion seeking additional jail credit was legally insufficient.
2. Whether a legally insufficient post-conviction motion should be denied with leave to amend when it appears to be the defendant's first attempt to file a facially sufficient motion.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded