Florida Statute 775.087: 10-20-Life and Felony Degree Bump

Florida Statute 775.087 is the state’s firearm and weapon sentencing enhancement law, and it does two separate things to a criminal case. First, it automatically raises any felony one full degree when the defendant uses a weapon or firearm, or commits an aggravated battery, during the crime. Second, for a specific list of serious felonies, it imposes mandatory minimum prison terms of 10, 20, or 25 years to life when a firearm or destructive device is possessed, discharged, or used to cause death or great bodily harm. This second half is what prosecutors and defense lawyers call the “10-20-Life” law. Both parts remove sentencing discretion from the judge in ways that ordinary felony penalties do not.

The 10-20-Life Mandatory Minimums

Subsection (2) of the statute sets three escalating floors based on what the defendant did with the firearm during a qualifying felony. These are minimums the court cannot go below.

10 Years for Possession

Actually possessing a firearm or destructive device during a qualifying felony triggers a 10-year mandatory minimum. The weapon does not need to be brandished, pointed at anyone, or even seen by a victim. Possession during the crime is enough.¹

One reduced-minimum exception matters here. If the conviction is specifically for possession of a firearm by a felon or burglary of a conveyance, the mandatory minimum is 3 years instead of 10.² Felon-in-possession is one of the most commonly charged qualifying offenses, so this distinction comes up often.

20 Years for Discharge

If the firearm or destructive device is discharged during the felony, the mandatory minimum jumps to 20 years. Whether the shot hits anyone or causes any injury is irrelevant. Firing the weapon during the crime is what triggers the floor.¹

25 Years to Life for Death or Great Bodily Harm

When the discharge causes death or great bodily harm to any person, the mandatory minimum is 25 years and the maximum is life imprisonment. The court has sentencing discretion only within that 25-to-life range.¹ It applies whether the person harmed was the intended target or a bystander.

Higher Minimums for Semiautomatic Firearms and Machine Guns

Subsection (3) runs a parallel, harsher track when the weapon is a semiautomatic firearm with a high-capacity detachable box magazine, or a machine gun. Possession alone during a qualifying felony carries a 15-year mandatory minimum instead of 10.² Discharge still carries 20 years, and discharge causing death or great bodily harm still carries 25 to life. The same no-early-release rules govern both tracks.

Which Felonies Trigger These Minimums

The mandatory minimums only apply when the underlying conviction is for one of the felonies listed in the statute:²

Murder
Sexual battery
Robbery
Burglary
Arson
Aggravated battery
Kidnapping
Escape
Aircraft piracy
Aggravated child abuse
Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult
Throwing, placing, or discharging a destructive device or bomb
Carjacking
Home-invasion robbery
Aggravated stalking
Drug trafficking under Section 893.135(1)
Possession of a firearm by a felon (subject to the 3-year minimum noted above)
Human trafficking

Attempts count too. A conviction for attempting any of these while possessing a firearm carries the same mandatory minimums as the completed offense.

The Felony-Degree Bump Under Subsection (1)

Separately from the mandatory minimums, subsection (1) reclassifies any felony one degree higher when the defendant uses a weapon or firearm, or commits an aggravated battery, during the crime. The reclassification is automatic; the judge has no discretion to skip it.¹ A third-degree felony becomes a second-degree felony, raising the maximum from 5 years to 15. A second-degree felony becomes a first-degree felony, raising the maximum from 15 to 30 years. A first-degree felony becomes a life felony, opening the door to life imprisonment. The maximums come from Florida’s general felony penalty statute.³

Two limits are worth knowing. The bump does not apply when weapon use is already an element of the underlying crime; the state cannot double-count that fact.¹ And unlike the 10-20-Life minimums, this reclassification is not limited to firearms. Any weapon triggers it, and so does an aggravated battery committed during the felony, even without a weapon.

The two provisions can stack. A second-degree felony committed with a firearm reclassifies to a first-degree felony (raising the ceiling to 30 years) and simultaneously carries a 10-year mandatory minimum floor.

Consecutive Sentences for Multiple Qualifying Offenses

When a defendant is convicted of more than one qualifying felony, the statute requires the mandatory minimums to run consecutively. Two qualifying convictions each carrying 10-year minimums produce a 20-year mandatory floor before any discretionary time.² When a qualifying felony is paired with a non-qualifying one, the court has discretion whether to stack the sentences but is not required to.

No Gain-Time, No Early Release

Mandatory minimum time under 775.087 must be served day-for-day. The court cannot suspend the sentence, defer it, or withhold adjudication. Standard gain-time credits for good behavior do not reduce the mandatory portion, and neither does any form of discretionary early release.²

Three narrow exceptions exist: a governor’s pardon, executive clemency, or conditional medical release. Conditional medical release is reserved for inmates who are permanently incapacitated or terminally ill, so in practice most defendants will serve the entire minimum before any release consideration on the rest of the sentence.

What the Jury Must Decide

Because these enhancements are so severe, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Alleyne v. United States matters directly to any 10-20-Life case. Alleyne held that any fact that increases a mandatory minimum is an element of the offense that must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.⁴

For Florida cases, that means the jury (not the judge) must find whether the defendant actually possessed a firearm, whether it was discharged, and whether the discharge caused death or great bodily harm. Each finding escalates the minimum, and each one requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.087 – Possession or Use of Weapon; Aggravated Battery; Felony Reclassification; Minimum Sentence
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 775.087 – Possession or Use of Weapon; Aggravated Battery; Felony Reclassification; Minimum Sentence
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties; Applicability of Sentencing Structures; Notification Requirements
4
Legal Information Institute. Alleyne v. United States