J.S.U.B., Inc. v. United States Fire Insurance Co‪.‬

Mark Wayne Patterson appeals an order withholding adjudication and placing him on probation for a series of motor vehicle offenses, the most serious of which was the third-degree felony offense of driving while license suspended as a habitual traffic offender. See §§ 322.264, .34(5), Fla. Stat. (2003). Mr. Patterson entered a plea of no contest to the charges, but reserved the right to appeal one issue: the denial of his "motion in limine to exclude prior uncounseled pleas." This motion argued that Mr. Patterson could not be convicted of driving while license suspended as a habitual traffic offender because some of the prior convictions that supported his designation as a habitual traffic offender were entered in violation of his right to counsel. Pursuant to Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55 (1980), we conclude there is no constitutional infirmity in the use of uncounseled pleas to support Mr. Pattersons designation as a habitual traffic offender or the subsequent use of this designation to "reclassify" his subsequent offense. We therefore affirm the order withholding adjudication and placing Mr. Patterson on probation.