Jomolla v. State

990 So. 2d 1234, 2008 WL 4329928
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 24, 2008
Docket3D07-2857, 3D06-3093
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 990 So. 2d 1234 (Jomolla 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
Jomolla v. State, 990 So. 2d 1234, 2008 WL 4329928 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

990 So.2d 1234 (2008)

Angel JOMOLLA, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

Nos. 3D07-2857, 3D06-3093.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

September 24, 2008.

*1236 Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Dorothy F. Easley, Special Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and Linda S. Katz, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Before SHEPHERD and ROTHENBERG, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

ROTHENBERG, J.

Angel Jomolla ("the defendant") appeals from a final order of conviction for battery evidencing prejudice and the trial court's subsequent denial of his motion to correct a sentencing error. On appeal, the defendant alleges that his conviction must be reversed and a new trial granted because: (1) the jury was instructed on an alternative theory of battery not charged in the information; (2) prejudicial evidence was improperly introduced at trial; (3) section 775.085, Florida Statutes (2002), Florida's "hate crime" sentencing statute, is unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to him; and (4) the Miami-Dade County Miranda Form, which was used to inform the defendant of his rights was legally insufficient. We affirm.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The defendant was charged with one count of battery evidencing prejudice under sections 784.03 and 775.085, Florida Statutes (2002), for an incident that occurred at a convenience store in Cutler Ridge. The facts are as follows. The defendant entered the convenience store, selected items for purchase, and was paying for his purchases, when the victim, Edwin Middlebrooks ("Middlebrooks"), entered the store, selected his purchases, came to the counter to pay for them, and stood behind the defendant. The defendant, who is white, asked Middlebrooks, who is black, if he had a problem with him. Middlebrooks responded that he had no problem with him, and asked the defendant if he had a problem with him. In response, the defendant stated that he had a problem with Middlebrooks' "kind," that "they" should all go back to Overtown where they belonged, and that he did not like "n____s."

The defendant paid for his purchases and began to exit the store, when he changed his mind, returned, approached Middlebrooks, and exchanged words with him. Middlebrooks told the defendant that if he wanted to hit him, he could do *1237 so. In response, the defendant punched Middlebrooks in the face. When the defendant attempted to strike Middlebrooks with a cane, Middlebrooks wrestled the defendant to the ground and was able to restrain him. Middlebrooks testified that he released the defendant after the defendant agreed to stop fighting. However, after Middlebrooks released the defendant, the defendant struck Middlebrooks with his cane, causing the cane to break and Middlebrooks to suffer a lesion requiring four stitches over his right eye.

The information charged the defendant with committing a battery upon Middlebrooks by intentionally touching or striking Middlebrooks, and in the course of committing said act, did evidence prejudice based on the race of the victim by telling the victim that he was not in the right neighborhood, he should go back to Overtown, and by calling him a "n____." The jury found the defendant guilty of committing a battery upon Middlebrooks and additionally found that the battery was motivated by the defendant's racial prejudice. The trial court sentenced the defendant as a habitual violent offender to seven years imprisonment with a mandatory minimum of five years under sections 784.03, 775.085, and 775.084(4), Florida Statutes (2002). On October 5, 2007, the trial court issued its denial of the defendant's Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(b) motion to correct a sentencing error.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

The Jury Instruction

The defendant claims that the trial court committed fundamental error by instructing the jury on an alternative theory of battery that was not charged in the information. He argues that fundamental error occurred because it is impossible to determine whether he was convicted under the charged or the uncharged theory of the offense.

Section 784.03, provides two alternative ways in which a battery may be committed: (1) by actually and intentionally touching or striking another person against his will; or (2) intentionally causing bodily harm to another person. In this case, the information charged the defendant with committing a battery upon Middlebrooks by "actually and intentionally touching or striking him," as provided in section 784.03(1)(a)1. The trial court, however, instructed the jury as to both forms of battery. We agree with the defendant that this was error.

Jury instructions, however, are subject to the contemporaneous objection rule, and absent an objection at trial, the objection can be raised on appeal only if fundamental error has occurred. See State v. Delva, 575 So.2d 643, 644 (Fla. 1991) (holding that error in failing to instruct the jury on an element that did not constitute fundamental error was not properly preserved for appellate review).

The record reflects, and the defendant admits, that his trial counsel failed to object to the jury instructions provided by the trial court. The defendant, however, argues that fundamental error occurred, requiring a new trial. Fundamental error may occur where an offense can be committed in more than one way, the trial court instructs the jury on an alternative theory not charged in the information, and the jury returns a general verdict of guilty without specifying the basis for the conviction. Eaton v. State, 908 So.2d 1164, 1165 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005) (finding fundamental error where the jury was instructed on an alternative theory not charged in the information); see also Debose v. State, 920 So.2d 169, 169 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); *1238 Braggs v. State, 789 So.2d 1151, 1154 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001).

In State v. Weaver, 957 So.2d 586 (Fla. 2007), the Florida Supreme Court clarified that a fundamental error occurs only in those trials where the uncharged theory included in the jury instruction was actually relied upon by the State and was contested by the defense. See also Beasley v. State, 971 So.2d 228, 230 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (finding that a jury instruction on an alternative theory of child abuse not charged in the information did not rise to the level of fundamental error where the State did not offer pertinent evidence or argument directed at the alternative theory).

In the instant case, the prosecution did not rely upon the uncharged theory that the battery was committed by intentionally causing bodily harm to the victim, and did not argue this uncharged theory in its closing argument. More importantly, the record reflects that the defendant admitted to striking the victim in the face against his will "[b]ecause he was in my space" (meaning that the victim was standing too close to the defendant at the check-out counter), and striking the victim with his cane, the theory charged by the State in the information.

Because the erroneous jury instruction did not concern a critical and disputed jury issue, and the State did not argue the erroneous theory or rely upon it in the prosecution of its case, we find that the trial court's inclusion of the alternative theory in its instructions to the jury, absent an objection by the defendant, did not constitute fundamental error.

The Trial Court's Evidentiary Rulings

The defendant argues that the trial court committed reversible error in admitting Officer Payen's testimony.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
990 So. 2d 1234, 2008 WL 4329928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jomolla-v-state-fladistctapp-2008.