Jean Claude Noel, Petitioner v. State of Florida, Respondent; Jean Claude Noel, Petitioner, v. State of Florida…

Summary

The court held that a sentence offering to reduce imprisonment from ten years to eight years if the defendant paid $20,000 in restitution within sixty days violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process guarantee. Conditioning the length of incarceration on timely payment imposed two additional years because of the defendant’s inability to pay, making the sentence fundamentally unfair. The court quashed the district court’s decision and ordered resentencing. Canady, J., dissenting, joined by Quince, J., would have upheld the sentence as a permissible restitution incentive.