Central Florida Homeless Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Stealing Groceries
As Sarasota criminal defense attorneys, we were intrigued by a short item on Fox News Oct. 5. According to the article, Mark Anthony Griffin, a homeless man from Bartow, outside Tampa, was sentenced recently to 15 years in prison for stealing a box of cereal and a can of evaporated milk. Griffin reportedly rejected an offer for a plea bargain that would have given him a fifth of the time in prison -- three years, plus an additional two years of probation. He has more than 50 prior convictions for minor crimes like public intoxication, trespassing and petty theft, charges his brother said stemmed from a long history of alcohol abuse.
Griffin’s charge may sound disproportionately harsh at first, particularly since he was charged with stealing food worth less than $10. But as the article noted, his sentence was mandated by Florida’s controversial prison release re-offender statute, which requires the maximum possible sentence and no possibility of early release for offenders who commit certain crimes within three years of release from prison. Supporters like the law because it harshly punishes repeat offenders, but opponents point to cases like Griffin’s as examples of unfair and disproportionate sentences the law requires for relatively minor crimes. They also argue that the law does not allow judges to exercise their discretion and may violate the Florida Constitution.
As Punta Gorda criminal defense lawyers, we share these concerns. When defendants are convicted as prison release re-offenders, judges cannot legally reduce the maximum sentences for those crimes. In most of these cases, prosecutors will not even offer a plea deal, knowing that the judge has little leeway to reduce the sentence. This leads to absurd sentences that judges would never otherwise hand down, such as 15 years in prison for a burglary of an unoccupied home. Because of this, Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer always defends prison release re-offender cases as aggressively and thoroughly as possible. Our Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorneys will take months, if necessary, to prepare defenses we believe are our clients’ best chance of avoiding an unfair, life-altering sentence.
