Florida Senate - 2023                                     SB 480
       
       
        
       By Senator Powell
       
       
       
       
       
       24-01131-23                                            2023480__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the first-time offender plea deal
    3         pilot program; creating a first-time offender plea
    4         deal pilot program; providing eligibility requirements
    5         for the program; allowing eligible offenders to be
    6         resentenced in accordance with a previously declined
    7         plea agreement; specifying duties of the Department of
    8         Corrections; providing for expiration of the program;
    9         providing an effective date.
   10          
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. First-time offender plea deal pilot program.—
   14         (1) There is created a pilot program for inmates in the
   15  custody of the Department of Corrections. To qualify for the
   16  program an inmate must:
   17         (a) Be a first-time felony offender.
   18         (b) Have served 20 years or more of his or her sentence.
   19         (c) Have been offered a plea agreement before trial which
   20  he or she declined to accept. Such a plea agreement must:
   21         1. Have provided the inmate with a shorter sentence than
   22  the sentence the inmate ultimately received; and
   23         2. Be provable either through documentation or other
   24  evidence.
   25         (d) Maintain eligibility to earn gain-time due to a lack of
   26  a disciplinary violation while he or she has been incarcerated.
   27         (e) Not have been convicted for actually killing a victim
   28  or for actually engaging in an act constituting a sexual battery
   29  as defined in s. 794.011(1).
   30         (2) Beginning October 1, 2023, an inmate eligible under
   31  subsection (1) may petition either the circuit court that
   32  originally sentenced the inmate or the circuit court that has
   33  jurisdiction over the area in which the inmate currently resides
   34  and may request that he or she be resentenced in accordance with
   35  the terms of the declined plea agreement.
   36         (3) If the circuit court determines by a preponderance of
   37  the evidence that the inmate is eligible under subsection (1),
   38  the court must resentence the inmate in accordance with the
   39  terms of sentence in the plea agreement. When the circuit court
   40  determines the inmate’s eligibility, the Department of
   41  Corrections shall release the inmate or recalculate the release
   42  date accordingly, as appropriate.
   43         (4) This section expires September 30, 2025.
   44         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.