This page has been published with the sole intention to demonstrate a crystal clear case of a manifest injustice which must be fixed. This travesty of justice took place on November 13, 2000, while I was being sentenced in Case No.: 98-5739 CF10A.
More to the point, during my sentencing hearing in 2000, the State proposed an upward departure sentence from my sentencing guidelines which fluctuated between a minimum of 8 years and a maximum of 16 years of imprisonment. This upward departure sentence was based on three separate reasons the State gave to the Judge. See: Attached (Exhibit A).
However, after the Judge carefully considered each one of the individual reasons proposed by the State, the Judge decided that two of the three reasons alleged by the State were insufficient and/or invalid and therefore, the Judge ultimately based his upward departure sentence, justifying the imposition of a Natural Life sentence upon me, solely on the fact that I had a prior conviction in Case No.: 90-1320CF10A. See: Attached (Sentencing Hearing).*
Although it is true that I had a prior conviction for which I entered into a negotiated plea in May of 1992. The prior conviction the State of Florida presented to the Judge in November of 2000, was inaccurately recorded in the year it was entered. My attorney at the sentencing hearing in 2000, Mr. James Lewis, Esq., timely objected but the Judge still imposed the upwardly departed sentence above my sentencing guidelines. See: Attached (Sentencing Hearing).*
After the sentencing hearing concluded, I hired another attorney for post-conviction purposes, Mr. Kayo Morgan, Esq. Mr. Morgan immediately filed a “Motion to object to the Upward Departure Sentence” imposed upon me. See: Attached (Exhibit B). Nevertheless, because I had already been transported to the Department of Corrections by the time this motion was filed. Mr. Morgan filed a “Motion to Relinquish Jurisdiction” in the Fourth District Court of Appeal. This Court granted the motion and I was transported back to the County Jail for an evidentiary hearing in April of 2001. See: Attached (Exhibit C). While at the County Jail, I was brought into Court while the Judge reviewed the prior record evidence presented to him. He immediately denied the motion to correct the prior record, in part, because we (the defense) did not present any testimony of the parties involved in the 1992 plea negotiations. See: Attached (Exhibit D). Nevertheless, the Judge did not enter his order of denial until December of 2001. See: Attached (Exhibit E).
For the next few years, I tried to locate the Attorneys who represented me during the 1992 plea negotiations, Mr. Arthur Joel Levine Esq., and Mr. Michael N. Lygnos, Esq. Finally in 2005 after I was able to locate Mr. Levine, he provided me with a Sworn Affidavit stating in detail the facts that took place in the 1992 plea negotiations. See: (Exhibit E) within Attached (Exhibit F).
A short time after I secured Mr. Levine’s Affidavit. The Correctional Institution I was housed at, Calhoun C.I. became threatened with the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. I immediately mailed Mr. Levine’s Sworn Affidavit to the house of my friend Franziska Kaltenbach, in Margate, Broward County area. Unfortunately, the Sworn Affidavit got accidentally lost/misplaced. Thus, I immediately reached back to Mr. Levine to provide me with another copy of his Affidavit. At that time, I was informed that unfortunately, Mr. Levine had unexpectedly passed away a few months earlier. So at that time, I became unable to have Mr. Levine appear in front of the Court to explain the facts of my earlier plea and also without the opportunity to present his under oath allegations stated in his drafted Sworn Affidavit. However, now, 17 years later, Ms. Kaltenbach while going through some of her personal stuff, inadvertently found Mr. Levine’s 2005 lost/misplaced Sworn Affidavit. See: (Exhibit E) within Attached (Exhibit F).
It is because of this unexpected finding that I just drafted a “Motion to Clarify and/or Correct Formal Clerical Mistakes in the Court’s Judgment and Decree by a Nunc Pro Tunc Order.” Unfortunately, in 2021, I was barred by the Court of Appeal from filing any future motions without the representation of an attorney, and I am without the funds to hire an attorney to represent me on this motion. Anyway, attached is the motion I drafted explaining in full detail all the facts involved in the 1992 plea negotiations and furthermore, I identify all the parties involved in such a plea and this way these allegations can be easily verified by the State. See: Attached (Exhibit F).
Sincerely,
Ernesto Behrens.
Exhibits Attached:
DNA MANIPULATED CONVICTION 