The constitutions of Florida and the United States impose no limitations whatever upon the power to retry a defendant who has succeeded in getting his or her first conviction set aside.(1) A corollary of the power to retry a defendant is the power, upon the defendant’s reconviction, to impose whatever sentence may be legally authorized, whether or not it is greater than the sentence imposed after the first conviction.(2) That a defendant’s conviction is overturned on collateral rather than direct attack is irrelevant for these purposes.(3) A defendant who has previously been sentenced may thus be resentenced upon remand from an appellate court, upon the trial court’s granting of a motion to correct a sentencing error pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800, or upon vacatur of the sentence for fraud or misrepresentation, without running afoul of due process, equal protection, or double jeopardy considerations. These constitutional guarantees also impose no restrictions upon the length of a sentence imposed upon resentencing.
