Saintelien v. State

The district courts are in conflict regarding whether a challenge to a sexual predator designation imposed pursuant to section 775.21(5), Florida Statutes (2003), may be raised in a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a) motion to correct an illegal sentence filed in criminal court. See Saintelien v. State, 937 So. 2d 234, 235 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (requiring sexual predator designation challenges to be raised in separate civil proceedings); Boyer v. State, 946 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) (same); contra King v. State, 911 So. 2d 229 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (permitting such challenges to be raised in criminal post-conviction proceedings); Kidd v. State, 855 So. 2d 1165 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (same). We resolve this conflict by holding that a rule 3.800(a) motion to correct an illegal sentence may be used to challenge a sexual predator designation, but limit our holding to cases where it is apparent from the face of the record that the defendant did not meet the criteria for designation as a sexual predator.