Corona v. State

929 So. 2d 588, 2006 WL 1144187
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 28, 2006
Docket5D02-2850
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 929 So. 2d 588 (Corona 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
Corona v. State, 929 So. 2d 588, 2006 WL 1144187 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

929 So.2d 588 (2006)

Sergio CORONA, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D02-2850.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

April 28, 2006.

*589 Steven G. Mason, of Law Offices of Steven G. Mason, Orlando, for Appellant.

Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Wesley Heidt, Belle B. Schumann and Timothy D. Wilson, Assistant Attorneys General, Daytona Beach, for Petitioner.

GRIFFIN, J.

This case is on remand from the United States Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004).

The following facts are relevant to our opinion: On January 25, 2002, Sergio Corona ("Corona") and his family were vacationing in Orlando, Florida. The family was accompanied by relatives of Mrs. Corona. The entire group shared a suite at the Westgate Resort near Walt Disney World. Shortly after midnight, Mrs. Corona walked into the bedroom she was sharing with Corona and witnessed her husband performing oral sex on the couple's eleven-year-old daughter, A.C. Mrs. Corona lunged at her husband, who did not realize someone had entered the room, and pulled him up by the hair. He immediately fled the suite, pursued by Mrs. Corona and her relatives, then got in the family van and drove back to Chicago. Mrs. Corona tried to get a security guard to stop her husband as he drove away. The guard refused, but he did report the *590 incident to his supervisor and the police were called. Mrs. Corona was very upset when she spoke with the police and offered little useful information. A.C., however, was able to give a statement describing the crime in detail.

Mrs. Corona and A.C. returned to Chicago with other family members. Serendipitously, two days later, they crossed paths with Corona on the Eisenhower Expressway. The family blocked Corona's van with their own SUV and refused to allow Corona to drive away. When police arrived, they found a white van in a traffic lane blocked by a black SUV. Corona was sitting in the van. More than ten irate people were on the highway, crying and yelling and trying to get at Corona. Officer Malkowski put Mr. Corona in his police car for his own protection. Corona exclaimed to him: "I can't believe I did it," and, "Why did I do it?" Officer Malkowski learned from the family members that they were angry with Corona because he had sexually assaulted the youngest daughter while they were on vacation in Florida. They said they had made a complaint to police, but that Corona had fled the scene, and they had just crossed paths with him on their way home to Chicago. Upon learning this, Officer Malkowski took Corona into custody and read Corona his rights.

A detective interviewed Mrs. Corona and A.C. in Spanish. A.C. reported that she had been on the bed with her father, who had pulled her underwear to one side and put his mouth on her genital area. Officer Malkowski, joined by State Trooper Ewald, then interviewed Corona for several hours. During the interview, Corona confessed to placing his mouth on A.C.'s genital area during the family's Florida vacation. He said his wife came into the room and saw what he was doing. At that point, he got up and ran away.

Corona was charged with committing the crime of capital sexual battery against A.C., who was less than twelve years old. § 794.011(2), Fla. Stat. (2000). Mrs. Corona and A.C. were initially cooperative with police, and the State intended for them to testify at trial. However, several weeks before trial, the State realized that A.C. and her mother, who lived in Illinois, would not appear at trial voluntarily. The State attempted to compel Mrs. Corona's attendance at trial, but repeated attempts to locate her were unsuccessful.

Because of Mrs. Corona's and A.C.'s refusal to cooperate, the State was forced to prove its case through the testimony of Deputy Jocelyn Avilis, who testified at trial to statements made by A.C. when reporting the incident. The court held a hearing on the admission of this hearsay evidence immediately before trial. Evidence regarding A.C.'s "unavailability" was presented through the testimony of Elizabeth Salgado-Valentini ("Salgado"), an investigator with the Cook County Illinois State Attorney's Office, who had attempted to locate Mrs. Corona in Illinois. According to Salgado, Mrs. Corona actively evaded numerous attempts to serve her at various locations and repeatedly hung up the telephone when called by investigators. The investigators' efforts continued through August 2, 2002, at which point Salgado went to the Cook County courthouse and had material witness warrants issued for Mrs. Corona and A.C. Copies of the warrants were introduced into evidence. However, the warrants were not executed in time to secure the appearance of Mrs. Corona or A.C. before trial.

The trial court agreed with the State that Mrs. Corona was not cooperating and that, consequently, A.C. was "unavailable" as a witness within the meaning of section 90.803(23), Florida Statutes. The court explained:

*591 In terms of unavailability, I'm finding that the child is unavailable. It's obvious the mother is evading any efforts to cooperate with this case, and stated so to the police officials up in Illinois; evade any efforts to serve, is not going to cooperate. The child was unable to be secured for testimony despite having issued various warrants to the mother to get the child here for trial.

The court also found that A.C.'s statements were sufficiently reliable for admission. In light of the court's ruling, defense counsel made a non-specific objection that the admission of A.C.'s statement violated Corona's right to "confrontation."

At the commencement of the second day of trial, the following transpired:

THE COURT: Ready to go forward, back with the trial?
[PROSECUTOR]: Yes, Your Honor.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor. At this time, I'd like to renew all previous objections.
THE COURT: Any one in particular?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor, the child's hearsay statements coming in, my client's admissions coming in; any — I'm not sure if the State's tried to bring any statements of Victoria Corona — but if they do, any of those, as well.
THE COURT: Do you want — you're objecting in advance? Is that what you're doing?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I assumed yesterday when they were speaking about statements coming in that they had also included Victoria's statements. If not, I apologize and I'm wrong.
THE COURT: Let's bring in the jury.

At trial, Deputy Avilis testified over a hearsay objection that A.C., in reporting the incident, said that her father had come into the bedroom, put his hand on A.C.'s shoulder, and told her she was pretty. Her father then laid her down on the bed, pulled her clothing to the side, and put his mouth on her "toto."[1] Her mother came into the bedroom, saw what was happening, and started screaming and hitting the father. No confrontation objection was made as required under Florida law. See Philmore v. State, 820 So.2d 919, 932-33 (Fla.2002); Hardwick v. Dugger, 648 So.2d 100, 107 n. 5 (Fla.1994); Sedney v. State, 817 So.2d 1074, 1075 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002);

The two Chicago police officers who had taken Corona into custody in Illinois testified that Corona had confessed to the offense.

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Howard v. State
853 N.E.2d 461 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
929 So. 2d 588, 2006 WL 1144187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corona-v-state-fladistctapp-2006.