Allah v. State

471 So. 2d 121, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1366
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 4, 1985
Docket83-2825
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 471 So. 2d 121 (Allah v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allah v. State, 471 So. 2d 121, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1366 (Fla. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

471 So.2d 121 (1985)

Allahzar God ALLAH, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 83-2825.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

June 4, 1985.
Rehearing Denied July 8, 1985.

*122 Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Susan J. Silverman, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Richard L. Polin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant was convicted of first-degree murder. He was seen in broad daylight at an intersection of two main thoroughfares repeatedly stabbing another man whom he had never met before. The killing was without apparent motive. Although the defendant and the victim had never spoken to one another, the defendant, purportedly suffering from a delusion, believed the victim had insulted and threatened him and meant to kill him. Upon his arrest, the defendant told the police that God told him to kill the victim. He was otherwise quiet and unemotional. When advised of his right to an attorney, the defendant requested one. Predictably, the defense was insanity.

The defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting over the defendant's timely objection rebuttal testimony that he requested an attorney after his arrest. Relying on State v. Burwick, 442 So.2d 944 (Fla. 1983), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1719, 80 L.Ed.2d 191 (1984), he correctly asserts that this testimony, inadmissible as an improper comment on the defendant's exercise of a Miranda-protected right, is not made admissible because offered to rebut the defendant's insanity defense. The defendant is incorrect, however, in his assertion that he preserved this point for appeal, as he must, see Clark v. State, 363 So.2d 331 (Fla. 1978),[1] by timely objection.

While it is true that the defendant objected at the time the State's rebuttal testimony was introduced, that objection was meaningless under the well-recognized rule that "[i]f evidence theretofore has been admitted without objection, a subsequent objection to admission of evidence of the same import is waived." Ingle v. Ingle, 42 N.C. App. 365, 368, 256 S.E.2d 532, 535 (1979). See Star Realty v. Strahl, 261 Iowa 362, 154 N.W.2d 143, 145 (1967) (failure to object to testimony waives right to object to further questions on the same subject matter); Breiner v. Olson, 195 Neb. 120, 126, 237 N.W.2d 118, 124 (1975) ("Error cannot be predicated on the admission of testimony when testimony of the same nature was previously admitted without objection."); State v. Rogers, 275 N.C. 411, 432, 168 S.E.2d 345, 358 (1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1024, 90 S.Ct. 599, 24 L.Ed.2d 518 (1970) ("It is the well established rule ... that when incompetent evidence is admitted over objection, but the same evidence has theretofore or thereafter been admitted without objection, the benefit of the objection is ordinarily lost."); Wright v. American General Life Insurance Co., 59 N.C. App. 591, 598, 297 S.E.2d 910, 915 (1982), rev. denied, 307 N.C. 583, 299 S.E.2d 653 (1983) (same). See also Rowles v. Woronwitch, 369 So.2d 362 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 379 So.2d 208 (Fla. 1979); National Car Rental System, Inc. v. Holland, 269 So.2d 407 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972), cert. denied, 273 So.2d 768 (Fla. 1973). In the case before us, the evidence which was admitted without objection was not merely of the same import or the same nature but was identical.

The defendant called three psychiatrists to testify on his behalf. Each of them expressed his expert opinion that the defendant did not know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime. On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked each of three psychiatrists the following hypothetical question, which, *123 without objection by the defendant,[2] included as an operative fact that the defendant requested a lawyer upon being apprehended by the police:

"Assume the following facts were true: Number one, a witness sees the Defendant chasing a white male across the street. The witness is a passenger in a van driving down the same street. As the Defendant chases the white male across the street he is stabbing the white male in the back with a knife. The van pulls up next to the two men. The white man runs around the front of the van to the passenger door and tries to get into the van, still being pursued and stabbed by the Defendant. The witness opens the door and sticks out a gun which she's holding in her hand. The Defendant looks up and sees the gun. His face showing surprise as he sees it and he runs back across the street. The witness who is an off-duty police officer chases the Defendant and shouts, `Stop. Police.' As she finishes saying this, the Defendant stops and turns around to look at her.
"The witness, while pointing the gun at the Defendant, tells him to drop the knife which he does. As the witness is picking up the knife the Defendant walks to a nearby bench and sits down. The witness holds him there at gunpoint and tells him not to move or she will shoot him. The Defendant does not attempt to move from the bench. As she holds the Defendant at gunpoint the Defendant asks her, `Why are you holding that gun on me?'
"The witness says, `Because if you move I will kill you.' To this the Defendant responds, `I want my attorney.'
"My first question is this: Based on the facts that I just related to you, do you have an opinion as to whether the actions of the Defendant are more consistent or less consistent with the Defendant being in touch with reality at the time of these acts?" (emphasis supplied).

Dr. Corwin, the first psychiatrist, responded this way:

"I think it would be consistent with either position. Here's a man who is being observed by people, yet continues to stab at a man.
"A woman points a gun at him and he walks away from her. It may be a rational, sensible man would not have walked away. On the other hand, the fact that he said, `I want an attorney,' might indicate some awareness of his being in trouble. It could be either way.
"My feeling would be that in totality his actions would indicate lack of awareness completely of the reality he was in."

The prosecutor then attempted to impeach Dr. Corwin by confronting him with an answer he had given in a pretrial deposition to a question which also probed the significance of the defendant's post-arrest request for an attorney:

"Q What significance, if any, do you attach to the fact that he asked for an attorney?
"A Well, I think that was an awareness — of course that makes one wonder that he must have known he was going to be charged with a crime and he wanted an attorney to protect him.
"Q Those facts ... would you find [them] more consistent with being in touch with reality or more consistent with reacting to some sort of delusion?
"A More consistent with his being in touch with reality.

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Bluebook (online)
471 So. 2d 121, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allah-v-state-fladistctapp-1985.