Eady v. State

229 So. 3d 434
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 20, 2017
DocketCase 2D15-3153
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 229 So. 3d 434 (Eady 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
Eady v. State, 229 So. 3d 434 (Fla. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

BADALAMENTI, Judge.

Nicholas Eady, a juvenile tried as an adult, appeals his jury conviction 'for attempted second-degree murder. He argues that the trial court erred by instructing the jury, over his timely objection, that he had a duty to retreat if the jury determined he was engaged in unlawful activity while defending himself during a brawl. He claims that this jury instruction deprived him of his sole defense, which was self-defense pursuant to section 776.012(1), Florida' Statutes (2012). Eady asserts that the trial court’s refusal to omit the instruction was erroneous because the circumstances underlying Eady’s attempted-murder conviction occurred in 2012, whereas the self-defense statute which Eady had invoked did not suggest a duty to retreat until 2014. We agree. Because we cannot conclude that the trial court’s error was harmless, we reverse Eady’s conviction arid remand for a new trial.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Trial Testimony

In the early morning hours of July 8, 2012, a seventeen-year-old Eady was with a group of his friends at a house party. During the party, some beer belonging to one of Eady’s friends went missing. Eady’s group confronted a second group of guests about the missing beer, suggesting they might have stolen it. This initial confrontation did not become violent. Eventually, both groups left the first party and proceeded to a second house party.

Joshua Febus and Ryan Leavitt were among the guests in' this second group accused -of stealing the beer. Outside the location ■ of the second house party, the issue of the missing beer resurfaced between the two groups, and this time, tensions boiled oyer. Febus testified that he threw the first punch, causing an all-out brawl involving approximately fifteen or twenty people. Eady testified that he tried to break up the brawl but ended up getting attacked, by “[a] bunch of people” and stabbed in the hand. Eady further testified that as he was being attacked, he pulled a pocket knife he used for fishing from his pocket to defend himself. Specifically, Eady testified that he began swinging the pocket knife around at people “in self-defense” because he was “scared for [his] life” and “didn’t know what else'to do.” During the brawl, Febus was stabbed five times in the back and Leavitt was stabbed in the neck. The State charged Eady with attempted second-degree murder for stabbing Leavitt. 1 ■ ■

B. The Jury Instructions

During the charge conference, Eady’s counsel objected to the inclusion of any jury instruction language suggesting that Eady had a duty to retreat if he was engaged in an “unlawful activity.” He asserted that he was, proceeding under a self-defense theory pursuant to the 2012 version of section 776.012(1), which had no such language. Over defense counsel’s timely objection, the trial court instructed the jury that Eady had a duty to retreat if he was “engaged in an unlawful activity,” a requirement that did not exist in tiie 2012 version of section 776.012(1). The court’s instruction went as follows:

If the defendant was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

(Emphasis added.)

Eady argues that the trial court’s inclu-sión of the “not engaged in an unlawful activity” charge to the jury undercut his sole defense, which was that he was acting in self-defense and had no duty:to retreat pursuant to the 2012 • version of section 776.012(1).

II. DISCUSSION

“Where there is- any evidence which supports a theory of the defense, a defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed ;on the law applicable to his theory when he so requests.” Wenzel v. State, 459 So.2d 1086, 1087 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) (citing Bryant v. State, 412 So.2d 347, 350 (Fla. 1982)). While a trial court’s refusal to give an instruction in the form requested by the defendant is normally reviewed for abuse of discretion, “the trial court’s discretion is limited [in criminal eases] because ‘a criminal defendant is entitled to have the jury instructed on his or her theory of defense if there is any evidence to support this theory,’ ’’ assuming the defendant’s theory is legally valid. Williams v. State, 34 So.3d 768, 770-71 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010) (quoting Worley v. State, 848 So.2d 491, 492 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)).

Under the 2012 version of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, 2 section 776.032(1) provides for immunity • from criminal prosecution for any person who uses force as permitted in .section 776.012, section 776.013, or section 776.031. Here, Eady raised his theory of self-defense under tHe 2012 version of section 776.012. Although section 776.013 precludes immunity where a person engages in unlawful activity at the time they use force, the version of section 776.012 in effect in 2012 did not. See Little v. State, 111 So.3d 214, 221-22 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013).

At the time of Eady’s charged criminal conduct in 2012, section 776.012(1) read, in relevant part, as follows;

A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against. the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to. retreat if:
(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or. another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony ....

§ 776.012(1). Construing the identical text of section 776.012(1) set forth above, our court has held that this version of section 776.012(1) did not impose a duty to retreat upon a defendant engaged in unlawful activity. See Andujar-Ruiz v. State, 205 So.3d 803, 806-07 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (citing, inter alia, Little, 111 So.3d at 220-22; Dorsey v. State, 149 So.3d 144, 147 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)); cf. Miles v. State, 162 So.3d 169, 171-72 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015) (“[Ujnder the prior Stand Your Ground law, a defendant could assert immunity under section 776.012 even if he or she was engaged in an unlawful act at the time.”); Garrett v. State, 148 So.3d 466, 471 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (“The fact that [defendant] was a convicted felon in unlawful possession of a firearm did not apply to the jury’s consideration of whether [defendant] had a duty to retreat under section 776.012(1).”); Hill v. State, 143 So.3d 981, 985-86 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) (en banc) (holding that the application of section 776.012 is not limited to persons not engaged in unlawful activity); Pages v. Seliman-Tapia, 134 So.3d 536, 539 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014) (holding that defendant need not establish that he was not engaged in unlawful activity under section 776.012).

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229 So. 3d 434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eady-v-state-fladistctapp-2017.