Tyson v. State

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
SHAWN A. TYSON, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D12-2296
)
STATE OF FLORIDA, )
)
Appellee. )
)
Opinion filed September 24, 2014.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Sarasota
County; Frederick A. Defuria, Judge.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and
Terrence E. Kehoe, Special Assistant Public
Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General,
Tallahassee, and Cerese Crawford Taylor,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for
Appellee.
CASE, JAMES R., Associate Senior Judge.
Shawn A. Tyson appeals his judgments and sentences for two counts of
first-degree murder. We affirm his judgments without discussion. However, as the
State concedes, we must reverse his sentences of life in prison without the possibility of
parole pursuant to the holding in Miller v. Alabama, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), because Mr.
Tyson was sixteen years old when the crimes were committed. In Miller, 132 S. Ct. at
2460-61, the Supreme Court held that a sentencing scheme requiring a mandatory
sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders
violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. We
must therefore reverse Mr. Tyson's sentence and remand his case for a new sentencing
hearing in compliance with Rodriguez-Giudicelli v. State, 39 Fla. L. Weekly D1089 (Fla.
2d DCA May 23, 2014). As this court did in Rodriguez-Giudicelli, we certify the same
question of great public importance:
WHETHER THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION IN
MILLER V. ALABAMA, 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), WHICH
INVALIDATED SECTION 775.082(1)'S MANDATORY
IMPOSITION OF LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE SENTENCES
FOR JUVENILES CONVICTED OF FIRST–DEGREE
MURDER, OPERATES TO REVIVE THE PRIOR
SENTENCE OF LIFE WITH PAROLE ELIGIBILITY AFTER
25 YEARS PREVIOUSLY CONTAINED IN THAT
STATUTE?
39 Fla. L. Weekly at D1089.
Judgments affirmed, sentences reversed, and question certified.
LaROSE and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.
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