Charles Mendenhall, Petitioner v. State of Florida, Respondent — Pariente, J., Dissenting

Summary

Justice Pariente's dissent rejects the majority's conclusion that the firearm-sentencing provisions always override statutory maximum sentences for the underlying offense. She would read the relevant sentencing provisions together and apply the rule of lenity because the statute is ambiguous about whether a twenty-five-years-to-life range displaces a lower statutory maximum. Justice Pariente would therefore construe the statute to limit Mendenhall's mandatory minimum to a term between twenty-five and thirty years rather than permit a life minimum.