Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Florida Second Degree Murder charge

I have a friend that was sentenced to 18 years for attempted second degree murder in 1999 for an offense that occurred in 1997. I was looking at the Florida Statutes 775.082(3)(c) says that the maximum sentence for a felony of a second degree is 15 years. If this is true wouldn't the Dept of Corrections adjust his sentence? If not, how can I get it adjusted? I hope I am reading it correctly this would apply to him even if he was sentenced under the 1995 sentencing guidelines, right?


Asked on 6/21/08, 11:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Aaron Slavin Slavin Law Firm, LLC

Re: Florida Second Degree Murder charge

You are correct in your reading that a second degree felony is only punishable by 15 years in prison. However, second degree murder is NOT a second degree felony. Second degree murder is s first degree felony that is punishable by life (1F PBL). Normally, an attempt to commit a crime will knock it down one level (i.e., from a first degree felony to a second degree felony). However, there are several ways in which attempted second degree murder can be "reclassified" or bumped back up to a first degree felony (the most common being if a firearm was used in the commission of the crime). Without any more information, it would be impossible to say whether his sentence is correct or not, but I'm guessing the case involved a firearm or some other legal enhancement.

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Answered on 6/22/08, 5:08 am


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