Jesse Stone v. State of Florida

FIFTH DISTRICT C OURT OF A PPEAL
S TATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
Case No. 5D2025-0659
LT Case No. 2024-CF-002678-A
_____________________________
JESSE S TONE,
Appellant,
v.
STATE OF F LORIDA,
Appellee.
_____________________________
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Marion County.
Lisa D. Herndon, Judge.
Matthew J. Metz, Public Defender, and Joseph Chloupek,
Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Tabitha
Mills, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
January 2, 2026
SOUD, J.
In 	this 	Anders1 	case, 	Appellant 	Jesse 	Stone 	appeals 	his
judgment and sentence on the charges of sexual battery and
1 See Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967).

2
burglary 	of 	a 	dwelling 	with 	an 	assault 	or 	battery. 	We 	have
jurisdiction. See Art. V, § 4(b)(1), Fla. Const.; Fla. R. App. P.
9.030(b)(1)(A). 	We 	affirm 	without 	further 	comment 	Stone’s
judgment and sentence.
We write to emphasize that, while generally a defendant’s
filing of a notice of appeal divests the lower court of jurisdiction to
further act in a case,2 “before the record [on appeal] is docketed” a
trial court continues to have concurrent jurisdiction under Florida
Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.600(a) to correct sua sponte or upon
motion “clerical mistakes in judgments, decrees, or other parts of
the record arising from oversight or omission.” See Fla. R. App. P.
9.600(a); see also Luhrs v. State, 394 So. 2d 137, 139 (Fla. 5th DCA
1981) (“Prior to the time the record on appeal is transmitted, the
lower tribunal has concurrent jurisdiction with the appellate court
to render orders on any procedural matter relating to the cause.”);
Escobar v. State, 189 So. 3d 1029, 1031–32 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016).
Further, since a scrivener’s error in a judgment and sentence
deviating from the pronounced sentence constitutes an illegal
sentence,3 	the 	error 	may 	be 	corrected 	under 	Florida 	Rule 	of
Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). And as the rule plainly provides, the
trial court may do so “at any time,” except for the time provided by
Rule 3.800(b) or otherwise during the pendency of a direct appeal.4
2 See Meintzer v. State, 943 So. 2d 966, 967 (Fla. 5th DCA
2006).
3 See Williams v. State, 957 So. 2d 600, 603 (Fla. 2007) (“In
effect, . . . we have determined that a written sentence that
conflicts with the oral pronouncement of sentence imposed in open
court is an illegal sentence.”).
4 Rule 3.800(a) expressly authorizes “a party” to file a motion
to correct the illegal sentence, which encompasses both the State
and a defendant. See also Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(b). And even in
the absence of such a motion, the trial court retains “the inherent
authority to sua sponte correct” a scrivener’s error in its judgment
and sentence. See Spear v. State, 341 So. 3d 1106, 1111 (Fla. 2022).
The trial court’s authority in this regard is cabined “with[in] rule-

3
Finally, given the recurrence of scrivener’s errors in judgment
and sentences making their way to this Court in Anders cases, we
also strongly caution both prosecutors and defense counsel alike
that it is their responsibility, in addition to that of the trial court,
to review written judgment and sentences in a timely manner to
ensure that a written judgment is in accord with the sentence as
pronounced by the trial court. And in the instance a trial clerk
prepares and the trial judge signs a written judgment containing
a 	scrivener’s 	error 	(despite 	their 	good 	and 	hard 	work), 	it 	is
incumbent upon counsel, and especially the prosecutor, to bring
the error to the trial court’s attention via motion so that it may be
corrected below.
A FFIRMED.
It is so ordered.
J AY, C.J., and E DWARDS, J., concur.
_____________________________
Not 	final 	until 	disposition 	of 	any 	timely 	and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
_____________________________
based parameters.” See Coffin v. State, 386 So. 3d 634, 637 (Fla.
1st DCA 2024) (discussing Spear).