Dias v. State

812 So. 2d 487, 2002 WL 384970
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 13, 2002
Docket4D99-4033
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 812 So. 2d 487 (Dias 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
Dias v. State, 812 So. 2d 487, 2002 WL 384970 (Fla. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

812 So.2d 487 (2002)

Robert DIAS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D99-4033.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

March 13, 2002.
Rehearing Denied April 19, 2002.

*489 Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Marcy K. Allen, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and David M. Schultz, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

WARNER, J.

Appellant challenges his conviction for attempted second degree murder, raising four issues. First, he claims that the court should have granted a judgment of acquittal because his claim of self-defense was unrebutted. Second, he contends that the jury instructions on his defenses were misleading and constituted fundamental error. Third, he argues that the court erroneously admitted a knife found in his van that was not definitively identified as the weapon used in the assault. Finally, he argues that the court erred in admitting impeachment evidence that was used substantively in the prosecutor's closing argument. We find no reversible error in any of these issues and affirm.

The charges against appellant arose when the victims, Verret and Pescherine, arrived at appellant's home to retrieve Verret's guitar. Appellant had borrowed the guitar some months before. Verret had demanded its return on several occasions, but appellant kept putting him off. In fact, appellant had sold the guitar. When Verret and Pescherine arrived at the home, appellant told his wife, Anna, to tell whoever was at the door that he was not at home. Appellant then locked himself in the music room, which was in the *490 back of the house. Anna told Verret and Pescherine that appellant was at work. Although the testimony conflicted as to whether the victims were invited into the home, they both testified that they were invited in by Anna.

Verret explained that he was there to retrieve his guitar and asked to look around for it. Anna replied that it was most likely in the locked music room. From inside the music room, appellant could hear Verret become loud and upset. Pescherine asked Anna for a pen or nail to open the door, but she did not have one. Anna testified that Pescherine then used several different objects to get the music room door open, including scissors, but the victims testified that Pescherine only jiggled the door knob. While they were working on the door, Anna told them several times to stop and wait until appellant got home. Verret admitted that she could have said that; however, Pescherine testified that he never heard Anna ask them to leave.

The evidence was disputed as to what happened next. According to the state's case, as Pescherine was jiggling the door, it flew open and appellant charged out of the room with a knife, stabbing Pescherine in the neck and chest. Pescherine backed away from appellant toward the living room, where Verret came to his aid. Appellant then began stabbing Verret, too. Appellant continued to stab at both victims as they backed away and out of the house, where they collapsed on the front lawn. According to Pescherine, when they were lying on the ground, appellant said, "[t]hat'll teach you [expletive deleted] to mess with me. You got what you deserve." Each victim received multiple stab wounds. Pescherine received a wound which cut his artery, nearly causing his death and leaving one arm paralyzed.

Appellant's story varied significantly from the account of the victims. Upon hearing the commotion outside of the music room, appellant got a knife ready to use if the door was opened. Appellant claimed Pescherine opened the door and lunged at him with the scissors. Only after he pushed Pescherine away did appellant grab his knife. He forced Pescherine into the living room, but at that point he said that he had not stabbed anyone. Verret then charged appellant, and a struggle ensued. It was during the struggle with both victims that they received their stab wounds.

After the victims collapsed on the lawn, Anna called the police, reporting that appellant had just stabbed two of his friends. Appellant fled the scene. When he was finally apprehended three weeks later, the officers found a knife in his van approximately fifteen inches in length. Appellant described the knife he had in the music room as being ten inches in length, with a four to six inch blade. The victims described the knife as having a long, steel blade, and Verret said it was about a foot long. The sheath for the knife found in the van was not the same sheath as was found in the music room, but there is nothing in the record regarding the size of either sheath. The detective testified that Verret also described a point on the handle of the knife appellant used to stab him. The knife in the van also had a point on the handle. No testing was done on the knife, and the detective could not say that the knife in the van was the weapon used in the attack. No other knife was found at the scene similar to the weapon used by appellant in the attack.

At trial, appellant claimed self-defense and defense of burglary. He testified that he knew the victims were members of motorcycle gangs and that Verret had a violent nature. Therefore, when he heard *491 Verret outside the music room speaking belligerently with his wife, he was afraid for the both of them. The trial court denied a motion for judgment of acquittal, and the jury found appellant guilty of two counts of attempted second degree murder.

Appellant first argues that because he did not invite the victims into his home, he was under the reasonable belief that they were engaged in the commission of a burglary in his dwelling, justifying his use of deadly force against them. He relies on both section 782.02, Florida Statutes (1997), and the "castle doctrine." Section 782.02 provides "[t]he use of deadly force is justifiable when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person shall be."

Similarly, the "castle doctrine" states:

[A] person's dwelling house is a castle of defense for himself and his family, and an assault on it with intent to injure him or any lawful inmate of it may justify the use of force as protection, and even deadly force if there exist reasonable and factual grounds to believe that unless so used, a felony would be committed.

Falco v. State, 407 So.2d 203, 208 (Fla. 1981) (citations omitted). However, "[a] homeowner is not entitled to use deadly force to protect his person or dwelling in all instances. A homeowner may use deadly force to protect himself or his dwelling only if there exists a reasonable belief that such force is necessary." Butler v. State, 493 So.2d 451, 453 (Fla.1986) (emphasis added).

The question of self-defense is one of fact, and is one for the jury to decide where the facts are disputed. See Scholl v. State, 94 Fla. 1138, 115 So. 43, 44 (1927); Reimel v. State, 532 So.2d 16, 18 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988); Payton v. State, 200 So.2d 255, 255 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967). In discussing the question of the reasonableness of the force used, the court in Reimel stated:

A jury question is presented when the evidence is reasonably susceptible of two views, either that the defendant's action in shooting was justifiable self-defense or that such action evinced a depraved mind without proper regard for the life of the victim. The defendant is mistaken that the issue is whether he believed that he was in danger.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Corey Stephen Smith v. State of Florida
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2025
JOSE MIKE ESPICHAN v. STATE OF FLORIDA
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2024
CARLOS LORENZO GONZALEZ v. STATE OF FLORIDA
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2024
MICHAEL RADLER v. STATE OF FLORIDA
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2020
Byrd v. State
221 So. 3d 659 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2017)
Dunn v. State
206 So. 3d 802 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2016)
Chaffin v. State
121 So. 3d 608 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Bogart v. State
114 So. 3d 316 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
M.L.J. v. State
93 So. 3d 348 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2012)
Vila v. State
74 So. 3d 1110 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2011)
Turner v. State
29 So. 3d 361 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Stinson v. State
69 So. 3d 291 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2009)
Martinez v. State
981 So. 2d 449 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2008)
Segura v. State
972 So. 2d 1105 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
Barnes v. State
969 So. 2d 1117 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)
Williamson v. State
961 So. 2d 229 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Liotta v. State
939 So. 2d 333 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
Luton v. State
934 So. 2d 7 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
812 So. 2d 487, 2002 WL 384970, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dias-v-state-fladistctapp-2002.