BALLADARES V. STATE
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida, January Term, A.D. 2011 Opinion filed April 6, 2011. ________________ No. 3D09-1984 Lower Tribunal No. 08-29639 ________________ Alejandro Balladares, Appellant, vs. The State of Florida, Appellee. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Orlando Prescott, Judge. Joseph P. George, Jr., Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Third Region, and Abe A. Bailey and Dan Hallenberg, Assistant Regional Counsels, for appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Lunar Claire Alvey, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee. Before SHEPHERD and EMAS, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge. CONFESSION OF ERROR SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge. While defendant s convictions are affirmed, the defendant argues, the State concedes, and we agree, that the concurrent sentences imposed below upon him as a (properly designated) Prison Releasee Reoffender, § 775.082, Fla. Stat. (2008), of thirty years for strong arm robbery, a second degree felony, and ten years for tampering with a witness, a third degree felony, are unlawfully excessive. The trial court s apparent reliance on the habitual felony offender statute which would permit this sentence, § 775.084, Fla. Stat. (2008), was, as all agree, unjustified because, although the defendant may have qualified for that status, the trial court did not so declare him or otherwise comply with the requirements of the statute. Therefore the sentences are vacated and the cause remanded for resentencing without regard to the habitual felony offender statute. Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. 2
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
