IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
TRIMEKA SHANTA WOOD, NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
Appellant, DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
v. CASE NO. 1D13-5829
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
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Opinion filed October 23, 2014.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Alachua County.
Robert Groeb, Judge.
Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, Tallahassee; Diana L. Johnson of Johnson and
Lufrano, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General and Samuel Steinberg, Assistant Attorney
General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
In this appeal, Ms. Trimeka Wood challenges her sentence based on the trial
judge’s statement that her sentence was based, in part, on her “continued denial of
any culpability.” Our precedents make clear that a sentence conditioned, even in
part, on a defendant’s “lack of remorse and claim of innocence” violates due
process and warrants remand for resentencing before a new judge. Adkinson v.
State, 133 So. 3d 607, 607 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014); Dumas v. State, 134 So. 3d 1048,
1048 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013); Jackson v. State, 39 So. 3d 427, 428 (Fla. 1st DCA
2010); Ritter v. State, 885 So. 2d 413, 414 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004).
Accordingly, we VACATE the sentence and REMAND for resentencing
before a new judge.
VAN NORTWICK, WETHERELL, and MAKAR, JJ., CONCUR.
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