Armstrong v. State

931 So. 2d 187, 2006 WL 1559734
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided June 9, 2006·No. 5D05-1884·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

931 So.2d 187 (2006)

Stefan A. ARMSTRONG, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D05-1884.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

June 9, 2006.

*189 David F. Hoffmann, of Hoffmann Hoffmann, P.A., South Daytona, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Wesley Heidt and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

SHARP, W., J.

In this appeal from his conviction and sentence for robbery, Armstrong contends the trial court committed reversible error by: 1) allowing the state to introduce into evidence a portion of a video-taped statement he made to law enforcement while being investigated in an unrelated case, 2) refusing the defense request for a jury instruction on attempted robbery, and 3) striking a defense alibi witness. We agree with Armstrong that the court erred in admitting his statement to law enforcement and reverse on that ground. We find no merit to the remaining issues but address those issues in order to assist the trial court on remand.

Armstrong was charged with robbing Jessica Goerke of her wallet on December 6, 2004. Prior to trial, the defense filed a notice of alibi in which it claimed that Armstrong was with John Reynolds and Lisa Dutka at the time. The state moved to strike the notice as insufficient because it failed to state the location where Armstrong was at the time of the offense, as required by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.200.

At the hearing on this motion, defense counsel conceded the notice did not comply with the rule but argued the failure to state the location was an unintentional omission. Defense counsel then put on the record that Armstrong was at an address in Daytona Park Estates at the time of the offense.

The judge hearing the motion denied the state's motion to strike but ordered that both alibi witnesses be made available that afternoon for deposition by the state. Defense counsel agreed to do so.

The defense produced Reynolds and the state took his deposition. However, the defense failed to produce Dutka.

At the start of the trial, the state moved to exclude Dutka who had appeared in court. The trial judge struck her as a witness because the defense failed to produce her the prior day and the state did not have an opportunity to talk to her. The trial then proceeded.

Jessica testified that she was accosted by a man in the driveway of her home. The man grabbed her arm and flung her around. He told her to give him all the money she had.

Jessica told the man she had no money, that she does not carry cash. The man told her to "prove it." As Jessica was getting her wallet from her purse, the man grabbed her hair. Jessica was shaking so badly she could not open the wallet. The man yanked the wallet from her and looked through it. Jessica's hands were free and she hit the panic button on her keychain, which set off the alarm on her vehicle.

The man dropped the wallet, slapped Jessica across her face and ran away. Jessica ran inside the house and called 911. *190 Jessica's wallet was found in the driveway but no fingerprints were obtained from the wallet. Law enforcement took Jessica to view a suspect but he was not identified as the assailant.

Deputy Brian Henderson testified that Armstrong lived in the general vicinity of Jessica's home in the Daytona Park Estates area. About one month after this crime was committed, Henderson interviewed Armstrong in connection with another robbery in November 2005. It involved a shooting. Over defense objection, the state was allowed to introduce the following statement made by Armstrong during that interview:

I will f___ with people I don't know, I will steal somebody's s___, but I ain't never hurt nobody in my f______ life, man. I have never hurt nobody.

Based on the interview, Henderson obtained a photo line-up that included Armstrong and showed the photos to Jessica. Jessica almost instantly identified Armstrong. She also identified Armstrong as her assailant at trial.

Reynolds testified for the defense. He said that Armstrong had been living with him in his Daytona Park Estates home, at the time this crime was committed. On the day of the robbery, he, Armstrong and Dutka were home all day, just sitting around, playing video games. Jessica's home is about a half-mile or more away.

The jury found Armstrong guilty as charged. Armstrong was adjudicated guilty and sentenced as an habitual offender to 30 years in prison.

I. STATEMENT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

Armstrong contends the trial court erred in admitting the statement he made to law enforcement during the investigation of an unrelated robbery. Armstrong argues the statement was similar fact evidence which violated the Williams[1] rule because there was no indicia of similarity other than both crimes involved stealing. It was also improper character evidence offered solely to demonstrate his bad character and that he acted in conformity with his bad character on this particular occasion. Any probative value was far outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

In response, the state contends that Armstrong failed to object on improper character or Williams rule grounds and thus these claims have not been preserved for review. However, the state made no effort to present this statement as Williams rule evidence. It failed to provide the defense with prior notice, and the jury was not given a Williams rule charge, as is required. Delgado v. State, 573 So.2d 83 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1990). Nor did it argue the statement constituted proper Williams rule evidence. Finally, the state argues that any prejudice at trial did not substantially outweigh the probative value of the evidence.

We find that Armstrong adequately preserved his objections to admission of this statement. At the start of trial, defense counsel told the court:

The Defense submits to the Court if the Court allows Ms. Taylor, the Office of *191 the State Attorney, to bring those statements in here, they would be collateral and would be unfairly prejudicial to the defendant in this case. They're irrelevant to the crime at issue, therefore, we're asking it to be excluded.

Before Henderson testified, the court reviewed the tape and heard arguments of counsel. After listening to the tape, defense counsel argued to the court:

They're clearly talking about the armed robbery on November 19th, and Mr. Armstrong is defending himself about that crime. And he is emotional in doing so, and distinguishing he would not hurt somebody. For the state to think, well, that makes him, that makes that statement fair game for all crimes not dealing with a shooting, not dealing with any type of injury on that level, is irrelevant because it lacks context and its probative value is far outweighed by the prejudicial value.

In resolving the merits of this issue, we find instructive several cases involving similar statements. They all involve the defendants' admissions of bad character or acts unrelated to the criminal prosecution in which the statements were admitted. For example, in Mims v. State, 872 So.2d 453 (Fla. 2nd DCA 2004), the trial judge admitted the defendant's statement to a deputy that "I haven't sold dope in at least four months, so it couldn't have been me," in his trial on drug charges. The Second District concluded this statement was unfairly prejudicial and should not have been admitted because it served only

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Armstrong v. State, 931 So. 2d 187, 2006 WL 1559734 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

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