If you are charged with burglary of a conveyance with an assault or a battery, the label on the charging document does not decide whether the prison releasee reoffender (PRR) law applies. The conviction does. That is the holding of Reeves v. State, No. 6D2025-1713 (Fla. 6th DCA Oct. 9, 2026), which affirmed a PRR sentence from Polk County. The opinion is subject to rehearing.
What PRR means. The PRR law applies to a person who commits certain crimes within three years of release from prison or similar custody. It includes a catch-all for “[a]ny felony that involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against an individual.” Reeves argued that because he was charged with burglary with an assault or a battery, and battery does not necessarily involve force, the catch-all could not apply.
What the court said. The Sixth District rejected that argument. Relying on the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Hackley, 95 So. 3d 92 (Fla. 2012), it wrote that “it’s not the charged offense that matters for purposes of PRR enhancement; it’s the offense of which the defendant is convicted.” Reeves’s jury found him guilty of burglary of a conveyance with an assault and a battery, and a conviction for burglary with an assault already qualifies under Hackley.
The court also noted that any Erlinger problem, the rule that a jury must find certain facts before a sentence is enhanced, was moot because the jury made the findings before sentencing.
The part to watch. Judge Pratt wrote a separate concurrence arguing that even a conviction for burglary with an assault or battery would qualify, because burglary itself is listed in the forcible felony statute. That view conflicts with decisions from the First, Second, Third and Fourth Districts, and he said he would certify conflict with them. It is one judge’s opinion, not the court’s holding, and no other judge is shown joining it. But it signals a possible fight over whether those older decisions will stand.
What this means in practice. In a PRR case, the verdict form and the jury instructions matter. A verdict that specifies an assault, or an assault and a battery, can bring the enhancement in even when the charge was worded in the alternative.
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Source: Reeves v. State, No. 6D2025-1713 (Fla. 6th DCA Oct. 9, 2026). This article is general information, not legal advice.