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Feb. 27, 2026 Get Citation Alerts Download PDF Add Note

Sawyers v. State of Florida

District Court of Appeal of Florida

• Citations: None known

• Docket Number: 2D2024-0520

• Opinion

• Authorities (22)

• Cited By (0)

• Summaries (0)

• Similar Cases (17.3K)

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Combined Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT

TYLER CORDELL SAWYERS,

Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Appellee.

No. 2D2024-0520

February 27, 2026

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Manatee County; Teri K. Dees, Judge.

Brett S. Chase of Chase Law Florida, P.A., St. Petersburg, for Appellant.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Cerese Crawford
Taylor, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

LABRIT, Judge.
Tyler Sawyers appeals his judgment and twenty-five-year
mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated battery with a firearm.
According to Mr. Sawyers, the information was defective because it failed
to allege that great bodily harm was inflicted "as the result of" the
discharge of the firearm, as required to support the sentencing
enhancement under section 775.087(2)(a)3, Florida Statutes (2021). This
alleged defect was not preserved below and does not constitute
fundamental error, so we affirm.
To resolve Mr. Sawyers' claim, we begin with the well-settled
distinction in Florida law between "substantive" and "technical" defects in
charging documents. Substantive defects—such as a failure to allege
any essential element of the charged crime—can be raised for the first
time on appeal. See Price v. State, 995 So. 2d 401, 404 (Fla. 2008). In
contrast, technical defects must be preserved by contemporaneous
objection. See Deparvine v. State, 995 So. 2d 351, 373 (Fla. 2008). Here,
the omission Mr. Sawyers identifies—failure to allege that great bodily
harm was inflicted "as the result of" his discharge of the firearm—does
not render the information substantively defective. See Barrentine v.
State, 72 So. 280, 281 (Fla. 1916) (rejecting the claim that an indictment
is fatally defective for not alleging "that such gun was discharged by any
person at or against the body of the deceased," and explaining that it is
enough to state the mode of death in ordinary language and to
substantially comply with charging requirements). The information
alleged all the elements necessary to charge the underlying offense of
aggravated battery under section 784.045(1)(a)1, Florida Statutes (2021):
that Mr. Sawyers intentionally touched or struck the victim against her
will and caused great bodily harm. It also alleged that he possessed and
discharged a firearm during the commission of the battery. The missing
phrase relates solely to the causation language required to trigger the
enhanced sentencing provision in section 775.087(2)(a)3, not to the
elements of the substantive offense itself. Facts which affect only the
sentence to be imposed—not the existence of criminal liability—are not
essential elements for charging purposes. See Robinson v. State, 215 So.
3d 1262, 1272 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017). Because the omitted language
pertains only to the applicability of a sentencing enhancement, its
absence rendered the information technically defective at most. As such,

2
any challenge to that defect was required to be preserved by
contemporaneous objection.1
No such objection was made. At the beginning of the proceedings,
the trial court confirmed that it had "an information charging one count
of aggravated battery with great bodily harm, involving a firearm," and
asked whether that was the information under which the parties were
proceeding. The State affirmed. Defense counsel made no objection.
Nor did counsel file or raise any pretrial motions challenging the
information, see Deparvine, 995 So. 2d at 374; Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.190(c),
or otherwise challenge the information at any other point in the
proceedings.
Because this claim of error was not preserved, Mr. Sawyers may
obtain relief only if the defect in the information constituted fundamental
error. Where a defect in the information does not involve the omission of
an essential element of the crime, "the defect is fundamental only if due
process was denied." Robinson, 215 So. 3d at 1272. That is, Mr.
Sawyers must demonstrate that he lacked notice of the mandatory
minimum sentencing consequences. See id.
The record does not support such a claim. Quite the opposite. The
record affirmatively demonstrates that both Mr. Sawyers and his counsel

1 We add that Florida's rules and case law contemplate—and, for

curable defects, expect—pretrial challenges to the charging document.
See Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.190(c); Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.140(o). Nonfundamental
pleading defects are waived if not timely raised. See DuBoise v. State,
520 So. 2d 260, 265 (Fla. 1988); State v. Gray, 435 So. 2d 816, 818 (Fla.
1983); Castillo v. State, 929 So. 2d 1180, 1182 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006);
Lacey v. State, 831 So. 2d 1267, 1271 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002) (quoting
Colson v. State, 717 So. 2d 554, 555 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)). That
framework aligns with counsel's duty to the client: timely objections
protect the client from waiver, whereas silence risks forfeiture of
nonfundamental claims.

3
were fully aware from the outset that a conviction as charged would carry
a twenty-five-year mandatory minimum sentence under section
775.087(2)(a)3. Before the trial began, the State placed on the record
that, while there had been plea negotiations, those discussions had
broken down in part due to the significant disparity between the parties'
positions. The prosecutor explained that the State's position had always
been that, in the event of a conviction, it would seek a twenty-five-year
mandatory minimum sentence and wanted that point clearly stated on
the record. Shortly thereafter, the trial court independently confirmed on
the record that, based on the charge and the applicable enhancement, a
conviction would subject Mr. Sawyers to a twenty-five-year mandatory
minimum.
Defense counsel raised no objection to these representations. Nor
did defense counsel express any confusion or disagreement about the
applicability of the enhancement. Instead, when asked by the trial court
whether there were any outstanding pretrial motions, defense counsel
responded that the parties had communicated and resolved all such
matters. The court then conducted a colloquy with Mr. Sawyers,
confirming that he had heard the discussions in open court regarding the
State's offer, the defense's counteroffer, and the potential sentencing
consequences. Mr. Sawyers affirmatively acknowledged his
understanding and confirmed his desire to reject the offers and proceed
to trial.
Following the guilty verdict, Mr. Sawyers attempted to flee the
courtroom and was immediately taken into custody. When the court
reconvened to discuss sentencing, defense counsel acknowledged that
there was no reason to delay because, in counsel's words, "Mr. Sawyers
knew what sentence he would be getting." The State echoed that

4
sentiment, stating, "It's the 25-year min-man. That's all, that's what I
was asking for, I think everybody kind of knew that." The trial court
then confirmed on the record that, in light of the verdict and applicable
statute, it had no discretion and was required to impose the twenty-five-
year mandatory minimum. Both parties again confirmed their
agreement. Defense counsel expressly stated, "It's our position that that
is the law, and there is nothing—no discretion here."
This record forecloses any plausible claim that Mr. Sawyers was
deprived of notice. A technical omission in the charging language cannot
rise to fundamental error where the defendant is repeatedly made aware
of the sentencing consequences. Cf. Cowart v. State, 257 So. 3d 145,
147 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018).
We also reject any suggestion that Mr. Sawyers' filing of a Florida
Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b) motion preserved the issue for
appellate review; although he raised the claim in that motion, he appears
to assume—without analysis—that doing so permitted him to pursue the
argument on appeal. That rule allows a defendant to raise certain
unpreserved sentencing errors during a pending appeal, but its scope is
limited. Under a related provision, rule 3.800(a), the Florida Supreme
Court has held that a defect in a charging document is not a proper basis
for relief because such a defect does not render a sentence "illegal." See
Martinez v. State, 211 So. 3d 989, 991–92 (Fla. 2017). Although no case
has expressly interpreted rule 3.800(b) in the same manner, the court's
reasoning in Jackson v. State, 983 So. 2d 562 (Fla. 2008), compels the
conclusion that such a defect likewise may not be raised under that rule.
In Jackson, the court emphasized that "sentencing errors" for
purposes of rule 3.800(b) are limited to errors apparent in orders entered
as a result of the sentencing process—such as errors in written

5
sentencing orders, cost assessments, or discrepancies with oral
pronouncements. Id. at 572. They do not include procedural defects
that occurred before or during trial and could have been addressed at
that time. Id. at 572–73. Mr. Sawyers' claim here—based on the content
of the charging document—falls squarely into the latter category. The
defect was apparent from the face of the information. Mr. Sawyers had
ample opportunity to object. Rule 3.800(b) was never intended to allow a
party to raise posttrial challenges to defects that were discoverable from
the outset, and it certainly does not license counsel to forgo a
contemporaneous objection—or, as occurred here, to affirmatively agree
that the court lacked discretion—only to raise the point later on paper.
Mr. Sawyers' reliance on Espinoza v. State, 264 So. 3d 343 (Fla. 5th
DCA 2019), does not alter our analysis. In Espinoza, the Fifth District
reversed a twenty-five-year mandatory minimum sentence where the
information failed to allege that Mr. Espinoza discharged a firearm,
resulting in great bodily harm, concluding that the omission rendered
the sentence illegal. Id. at 344–45. However, Espinoza did not address
whether the issue had been preserved,2 whether it constituted
fundamental error, or whether it could be raised in a rule 3.800(b)
motion—matters that are central to the disposition of this case.
Accordingly, this court is neither bound nor persuaded by an opinion
that does not address the procedural prerequisites for relief, particularly
where the record in our case establishes that Mr. Sawyers had clear and
repeated notice of the sentencing enhancement and never objected to the

2 Mr. Espinoza raised the issue in a motion filed under rule

3.800(a). By reaching the issue, Espinoza appears to diverge from the
Florida Supreme Court's holding in Martinez, 211 So. 3d at 990, that a
defect in a charging instrument does not render a sentence illegal for
purposes of correction under rule 3.800(a).

6
language of the information.3 To the extent that Espinoza may be read to
authorize relief in the absence of preservation or a showing of
fundamental error, we respectfully disagree with that analysis and certify
conflict with Espinoza.
We acknowledge that the absence of preservation does not
necessarily mean that no error occurred. Trial courts can and do err
even when a party fails to object. But whether an error occurred in the
abstract, our task on appeal is to correct errors committed by the trial
court. That premise underlies our limited role as an error-correcting
court: to review whether the trial court acted improperly or failed in some
legal duty. Here, the trial court did neither. It was never asked to rule
on the sufficiency of the charging document, and nothing in the law
imposed an independent obligation on the court to sua sponte scrutinize
the information for technical defects that were not raised by the defense.
Because there was no judicial error to correct, and because the issue
now raised was neither preserved nor shown to be fundamental, we
decline to disturb the judgment and sentence.
Affirmed; conflict certified.
ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, J., Concurs specially.
SILBERMAN, J., Concurs in result only with opinion.

3 We also note that the information in Espinoza charged aggravated

battery "with a firearm or causing great bodily harm," a disjunctive
formulation that, as the Fifth District explained, suggested any firearm
use did not cause the harm and thus wholly omitted the enhancement's
discharge-and-resulting-harm element. Id. at 344 (emphasis added).
Here, by contrast, the State alleged both that Mr. Sawyers discharged a
handgun during the battery and that the victim suffered great bodily
harm; the information simply failed to add the causal connector—"as the
result of." As we have explained, that omission rendered the pleading
technically, not substantively, defective, and therefore a timely objection
was required to preserve the claim. See Deparvine, 995 So. 2d at 373.

7
ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, Judge, Specially concurring.
I join in concluding that Sawyers' twenty-five-year statutory
minimum sentence should be affirmed, but I write separately because I
reach that conclusion a bit differently.
As the Supreme Court has effectively obliterated any distinction
between "sentencing elements" and elements of a new, aggravated
offense, see Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99, 114–15 (2013) ("When
a finding of fact alters the legally prescribed punishment so as to
aggravate it, the fact necessarily forms a constituent part of a new
offense and must be submitted to the jury."),4 I take as a given that we
must approach the language "and during the course of the commission of
the [enumerated] felony such person discharged a 'firearm' . . . and, as
the result of the discharge, death or great bodily harm was inflicted upon
any person," see § 775.087(2)(a)3, as if it were an element of an
enhanced offense even though it affects only Sawyers' sentence and not
his conviction on the core offense. I also take as a given that "an
information is fundamentally defective where it fails to cite a specific
section and totally omits an essential element of the crime." See
Figueroa v. State, 84 So. 3d 1158, 1161 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012).
The information in this case, however, did not "totally omit" that
element. Rather, it charged Sawyers both with "discharg[ing] a . . .
handgun" "during the commission of said battery" and with "caus[ing]
great bodily harm, permanent disability or permanent disfigurement" to
the victim. Significantly, subsection (2)(a)3, which prescribes the twenty-
five-year statutory minimum sentence that the trial court imposed, is the

4 According to Sawyers' Criminal Punishment Code Scoresheet, but

for any statutory minimum sentence, he would have faced a lowest
permissible sentence of 64.5 months' imprisonment.

8
only enhancement provision of section 775.087 that requires both. The
only thing the information failed to allege was the causal connection
between the two. Cf. Espinoza, 264 So. 3d at 344 ("The information does
not allege that Espinoza discharged the firearm. It also does not allege
that Espinoza used a firearm to commit bodily harm. Instead, the
information charges aggravated battery in the alternative by alleging
Espinoza used a firearm or knowingly caused great bodily harm, which
suggests that any use of the firearm did not cause great bodily harm.");
cf. also Daniel v. State, 935 So. 2d 1240, 1241 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (noting
that the information wholly failed to allege either that the defendant
"discharged a firearm or that death or great bodily harm resulted"). 5
Because Sawyers' information did not totally omit the element triggering
that statutory minimum sentence, I agree that it was not fundamentally
defective and that Sawyers was obligated to timely object to preserve any
claim of error.
But Sawyers did not object. To the contrary, he evidenced
throughout the entire proceedings his understanding that he faced a
twenty-five-year statutory minimum sentence, underscoring that the
omission of the causal connection not only was not fundamental but was
merely technical. He participated without protestation—and presumably
in good faith—in plea negotiations. He expressed no surprise at the
State's theory of prosecution. When the trial court instructed the jury
that if it found Sawyers guilty of aggravated battery with great bodily
harm, it should also determine whether "the defendant as a result of

5 Because I think Espinoza is distinguishable based on how the

offense in that case was charged, I see no need to certify conflict. If a
colorable argument could be made that that's a distinction without a
legal difference, however, I would join Judge Labrit in so certifying.

9
discharging a firearm cause[d] death or great bodily harm to" the victim,
he did not object that this instruction constructively amended the
information. Nor did he object to the verdict form that included a space
for the jury to record its answer to that question.
Nor was there any objection at sentencing, when defense counsel
acknowledged that the trial court had no discretion to impose a sentence
of less than twenty-five years' imprisonment. Consequently, I also
cannot conclude that Sawyers' subsequent rule 3.800(b)(2) motion
preserved any objection that imposition of that statutory minimum
sentence constituted error: rule 3.800(b)(2) was never intended to permit
defense counsel to sit quietly at sentencing—let alone to agree that the
sentencing court had no choice but to do something—only to object after
the hearing was over. See Jackson, 983 So. 2d at 573 ("[R]ule 3.800(b)
was not intended to circumvent rules requiring contemporaneous
objections or to substitute for ineffective assistance of counsel claims.").
In any event, faced with such a motion, the trial court denied it.
Correctly so, in my estimation.
We have repeatedly held that a defect in the information cannot be
cured by the jury's verdict. See, e.g., Daniel, 935 So. 2d at 1241; Davis v.
State, 884 So. 2d 1058, 1061 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). Which makes sense,
because how can we hang our hats on what the jury found at the end of
the proceedings when, if the defendant had had adequate notice of the
charge against him, those proceedings may have unfolded very
differently? But even where an information is fundamentally defective,
"[t]hat is not the end of our inquiry": our supreme court has stated
unequivocally that its "precedent does not make the failure to charge per
se reversible." Weatherspoon v. State, 214 So. 3d 578, 584, 588 (Fla.
2017). Rather, "the test for granting relief based on a defect in the

10
information is actual prejudice to the fairness of the trial." Id. at 584
(quoting Price v. State, 995 So. 2d 401, 404 (Fla. 2008)). Thus, we look
not merely to the jury's verdict but to the entire proceeding. See id. at
588.
There is, to put it mildly, no prejudice here. Sawyers irrefutably
knew from the get-go that he was looking at a minimum of twenty-five
years' imprisonment. He admitted shooting the victim multiple times,
claiming self-defense, and never once has he suggested that he could
have put forth a credible argument that the victim had not suffered great
bodily harm as a result. And the jury—properly instructed, without
objection—expressly found that the victim in fact had.
In closing, I note that the State could have avoided this issue
entirely if whoever had drafted the charging information had taken just a
moment to double-check the wording against the statute itself. It should
not be a tough ask for the State to accurately track language that it's
relying on to deprive someone of his or her liberty. That said, we must
be careful not to conflate a "mistake" by the State with trial court
"error"—our job is to correct the latter, not the former. Because Sawyers
has wholly failed to establish that he was surprised, misled, or otherwise
prejudiced by the State's mistake, I cannot conclude that the trial court
erred in imposing the statutorily mandated minimum sentence of twenty-
five years' imprisonment. Accordingly, I join the decision to affirm.

11
SILBERMAN, Judge, Concurring in result only.
Because the record establishes that the defect in the charging
information did not actually prejudice the fairness of Sawyers' trial, I
concur in the decision to affirm his judgment and sentence. I write,
however, to explain my concerns, particularly regarding the State's
failure to properly charge the grounds necessary to obtain the minimum
mandatory sentence, and the basis for my agreement with the result that
we reach.
The information did not specifically charge Sawyers with
discharging a firearm resulting in the infliction of great bodily harm and
did not cite section 775.087(2)(a)3. Precision is required in charging
documents to support penalty enhancements under section 775.087(2)(a)
due to the complexity of the statute and the various sentencing outcomes
that are possible under it. See Freudenberger v. State, 940 So. 2d 551,
555 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). The length of a minimum mandatory sentence
may vary, and to subject a criminal defendant "to a twenty-five-year
minimum mandatory under section 775.087(2)(a)(3), the State must
allege in the information that [the defendant] discharged the firearm and
that death or great bodily harm resulted." Daniel v. State, 935 So. 2d
1240, 1241 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (emphasis added). "Neither a jury finding
nor inclusion of the appropriate statute number in the information can
cure this fatal defect." Id. (quoting Davis v. State, 884 So. 2d 1058, 1061
(Fla. 2d DCA 2004)); see also Agenor v. State, 268 So. 3d 868, 870 (Fla.
2d DCA 2019) (noting that a general citation to section 775.087 is
insufficient to notify a defendant of the potential applicability of a
minimum mandatory sentence under section 775.087(2)(a) (citing
Bienaime v. State, 213 So. 3d 927, 929-30 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017))).
Sawyers was charged as follows:

12
COUNT 1: late of the County and State aforesaid, on or about
December 21, 2021 in the County and State aforesaid did
unlawfully, actually, and intentionally touch or strike the
person of [the victim] against his or her will, and in so doing
did intentionally or knowingly cause great bodily harm,
permanent disability or permanent disfigurement to the said
[victim], and during the commission of said battery did
actually possess and discharge a deadly weapon, to-wit:
handgun, contrary to Section 784.045(1)(a)1 and 775.087,
Florida Statute, in such case made, and provided and against
the peace and dignity of the State of Florida.
The jury found Sawyers guilty of "Aggravated Battery with Great Bodily
Harm, as charged." The jury also found that Sawyers (1) actually
possessed a firearm; (2) discharged a firearm; and (3) as a result of
discharging a firearm, caused death or great bodily harm to the victim.
Sawyers challenges his minimum mandatory sentence arguing that
the State failed to cite in the information the statutory subsection that
mandates imposition of a twenty-five-year minimum prison term and
failed to allege that the victim suffered death or great bodily harm as a
result of his discharging the firearm. The State responds that the
information connects Sawyers' "criminal conduct to the essential
elements upon which the enhanced sentence is based" and that his
sentence does not rest on the jury's special verdict findings or the
statutory citation in the information.
The State's argument is unpersuasive for the simple fact that the
information fails to allege, as required by statute, that during the course
of the battery, "as the result of the [firearm's] discharge, death or great
bodily harm was inflicted upon [the victim]." See § 775.087(2)(a)3; Davis,
884 So. 2d at 1060. And, instead of tracking the statutory language or
citing to subsection 775.087(2)(a)3, the appropriate enhancement

13
subsection, the State charged Sawyers with violating sections
784.045(1)(a)1 and 775.087.
Aggravated battery under section 784.045(1)(a)1 occurs when a
person, when committing a battery, "[i]ntentionally or knowingly causes
great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement."
The information tracks the precise language of section 784.045(1)(a)1
and adds that "during the commission of said battery [Sawyers] did
actually possess and discharge a deadly weapon." This discharge
language, without alleging that the discharge caused the great bodily
harm, triggers the twenty-year minimum mandatory sentence pursuant
to section 775.087(2)(a)2. That is because that subsection mandates
"[a]ny person who is convicted of a[n enumerated] felony . . . regardless of
whether the use of a weapon is an element of the felony, and during the
course of the commission of the felony such person discharged a 'firearm'
. . . shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of 20 years."
§ 775.087(2)(a)2. Because this causal element is omitted from the
charging information, I respectfully disagree with Judge Labrit and Judge
Rothstein-Youakim that this error does not render the information
fundamentally defective. See Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99, 103,
113-14 (2013) (recognizing that "[d]efining facts that increase a
mandatory statutory minimum to be part of the substantive offense
enables the defendant to predict the legally applicable penalty from the
face of the indictment" and holding that such facts that, "by law,
increase[] the penalty for a crime [are] 'element[s]' that must be
submitted to the jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt");
Weatherspoon v. State, 214 So. 3d 578, 584 (Fla. 2017) ("[A]n information
is fundamentally defective where it fails to cite a specific section and

14
totally omits an essential element of the crime." (alteration in original)
(quoting Figueroa v. State, 84 So. 3d 1158, 1161 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012))).
Nevertheless, even though the information omitted the essential
causal element of discharge causing death or great bodily harm, I agree
that we are compelled to affirm Sawyers' sentence because "the test for
granting relief based on a defect in the information is actual prejudice to
the fairness of the trial." Weatherspoon, 214 So. 3d at 584 (quoting Price
v. State, 995 So. 2d 401, 404 (Fla. 2008)). Under the facts of this case,
Sawyers was on notice, and indeed acknowledged, that he faced a
twenty-five-year minimum mandatory sentence. Thus, under
Weatherspoon, he cannot demonstrate any actual prejudice to the
fairness of his trial. See id. ("[A]n information is legally sufficient if it
expresses the elements of the offense charged in such a way that the
accused is neither misled or embarrassed in the preparation of his
defense nor exposed to double jeopardy." (quoting State v. Dilworth, 397
So. 2d 292, 294 (Fla. 1981))).
I remain concerned that the State failed to properly charge Sawyers
with the necessary elements to obtain the twenty-five-year minimum
mandatory, but under the unique facts of this case and in light of
Weatherspoon, I conclude we are compelled to affirm Sawyers' sentence.

---

Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.

15