Feller v. State

617 So. 2d 1091, 1993 WL 116636
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 16, 1993
Docket91-1062
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 617 So. 2d 1091 (Feller 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
Feller v. State, 617 So. 2d 1091, 1993 WL 116636 (Fla. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

617 So.2d 1091 (1993)

Joseph FELLER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 91-1062.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

April 16, 1993.

*1092 Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender and David P. Gauldin, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Carolyn J. Mosley, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

KAHN, Judge.

Joseph Feller appeals his conviction and sentences on three counts of sexual battery on a child less than twelve years old. He raises four issues for our consideration. We summarily affirm as to appellant's arguments involving the testimony of Dr. Harris, the admission of collateral crimes evidence, and the admission of certain statements made by the child victim to police officers and other child abuse investigators. Appellant's remaining issue concerns the propriety of the trial court's decision to allow the victim, W.O., to give her trial testimony by videotape, pursuant to section 92.53, Florida Statutes (1989). Having thoroughly considered appellant's arguments on these points, we find no reversible error.

Prior to trial the prosecutor filed a motion to allow the videotaped testimony of the victim, as opposed to live courtroom testimony. The matter came on for an evidentiary hearing, at which time the state presented the testimony of Dr. Harris, a practicing clinical psychologist from Brunswick, Georgia. Dr. Cheryl Harris rendered an expert opinion that W.O. would suffer at least moderate emotional harm were she required to testify in open court in the *1093 presence of Mr. Feller, who is her stepfather. Dr. Harris explained the reasons for her opinion, which included suicidal ideations on the part of W.O. and W.O.'s fear that she would cause irreparable damage to her family. Among the statements made by Dr. Harris are the following:

And I think she would be put in a very awful situation in open court if she were to be expected to tell the truth, and if the truth was that she was sexually abused by the defendant, she would be facing a choice to lie or to destroy her family, or what she thinks is going to destroy her family.
* * * * * *
And I said how would you feel if you had to go to court and tell what happened? And she said, would my daddy be there? And I said, well, yes. And she was very frightened by that and sort of made a gesture to me of how she anticipated her father looking at her, and just said repeatedly: `I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to do that, I don't want to do that.'
And I said, well, what, — you know, what if you — could you do this: Could you talk if you were in a small room away from the courtroom and the lawyers and a judge were present? And she said, well, okay.

Dr. Harris also made it clear that she was "speaking about [W.O.] in this specific situation." She stated that there might be situations in which it would not be so traumatic for a child to come into court and testify.

The defense counsel requested that she be allowed to consult with her own expert psychologist prior to presenting argument on the state's motion. The court was in agreement, and accordingly reconvened the hearing on January 17, 1991. At that time, defense counsel objected on the basis that the video testimony "violates the Sixth Amendment right to confrontation ... the privilege of face to face confrontation." In response, the prosecutor called the court's attention to section 92.53, explaining the requirement that certain findings be made by the court.[1] In response to defense counsel's objection, the prosecutor pointed out that the statute has been held constitutional, and does not violate the defendant's constitutional right to confrontation of witnesses. See Glendening v. State, 536 So.2d 212 (Fla. 1988), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 907, 109 S.Ct. 3219, 106 L.Ed.2d 569 (1989). The prosecutor then proceeded to remind the trial judge of the import of Dr. Harris' testimony with regard to the statutory requirement of specific findings. In so doing, the prosecutor paraphrased those portions of Dr. Harris' testimony set out in this opinion above.

At that point, defense counsel, without specifically referring to the statute or to any constitutional entitlement of Mr. Feller, asked "the court to allow Mr. Feller face-to-face contact with [W.O.] during her testimony." The court then inquired whether anyone had "anything else they wished to say." Counsel declined. The trial court ruled as follows:

I think I'm satisfied that Dr. Harris' testimony comports to the statute, that there is at least a substantial likelihood of — I believe it says even moderate harm, is sufficient to allow videotaping of the child; and therefore, I'm going to grant the state's motion to videotape the testimony of this child... . So having said that, are we ready to proceed now?

Defense counsel then moved into a discussion of the details of who would be present during W.O.'s testimony.

No defense objection was raised when the videotape was offered at trial. After the verdict, the defense moved for a new trial, alleging: "The Court erred in its pre-trial ruling allowing [W.O.] to testify by means of video tape."

*1094 At no point prior to or during the trial did the defense object to any lack of specificity in the judge's findings made under section 92.53(1). The only objection ever raised was to the constitutional right of confrontation. Once the state cited Glendening, supra, the defense counsel modified her position somewhat by deleting a reference to constitutional rights, and merely asking the court to allow face to face confrontation. The defense has not preserved its right to argue on appeal that Mr. Feller is entitled to a new trial by virtue of the trial court's failure to make findings with the specificity required by section 92.53. Hopkins v. State, 608 So.2d 33 (Fla. 1st DCA), rev. granted, No. 80,514, ___ So.2d ___ (Fla. Sept. 24, 1992); Sanders v. State, 568 So.2d 1014 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), rev. denied, 581 So.2d 166 (Fla. 1991); see also, Maddry v. State, 585 So.2d 359, 360 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) ("An appellate court will consider the grounds or objections to the admissibility of evidence as were specifically made in the trial court and cannot consider those objections to admissibility of evidence which are raised for the first time on appeal"); Jackson v. State, 456 So.2d 916, 919 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) ("An appellate court will not consider grounds of objection to the admissibility of evidence unless they have been stated with specificity in the trial court").

This case points out the salutary purpose of the rule requiring an objection to be made on specific grounds. It would appear that the testimony of Dr. Harris, apparently accepted by the trial court, is facially sufficient to comply with the dictates of section 92.53, as well as the case-specific findings requirement established in Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 855-57, 110 S.Ct. 3157, 3169, 111 L.Ed.2d 666 (1990).[2] Had a specific objection been contemporaneously made, the trial court could have easily amplified its findings, by extracting more specific information from the testimony of Dr. Harris.

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

Related

Feller v. State
637 So. 2d 911 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)
Hopkins v. State
632 So. 2d 1372 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)
Pippin v. State
626 So. 2d 1091 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)
Lewis v. State
626 So. 2d 1073 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)
Sigmon v. State
622 So. 2d 57 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
617 So. 2d 1091, 1993 WL 116636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/feller-v-state-fladistctapp-1993.