Lewis v. State

211 So. 3d 279, 2017 WL 486987, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 1442
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 7, 2017
DocketCASE NO. 1D15-3807
StatusPublished

This text of 211 So. 3d 279 (Lewis 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
Lewis v. State, 211 So. 3d 279, 2017 WL 486987, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 1442 (Fla. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Ervin J. Lewis, appellant, asserts that the trial court committed per se reversible error when it refused to instruct the jury on the necessarily lesser-included offense of simple battery when the underlying charge was battery within a detention facility. § 784.082(3), Fla. Stat. (2014). We are constrained to reverse pursuant to the Florida Supreme Court’s rulings in State v. Wimberly, 498 So.2d 929 (Fla. 1986), and State v. Abreau, 363 So.2d 1063 (Fla. 1978),1 which held that the failure to instruct on the next immediate necessarily lesser-included offense is per se reversible error, even though no reasonable jury could have determined that the battery in this case did not take place in a detention facility. We believe the rationale of Wim-berly and Abreau, when applied to the facts of this case, is irreconcilable with the sound reasoning expressed in Galindez v. State, 955 So.2d 517 (Fla. 2007), and Hurst v. State, 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016). In both of those cases, the supreme court held that even though the trial courts’ errors reached constitutional proportions, because there was no reasonable possibility that the errors contributed to the verdict, they could be reviewed under the harmless error standard of review.

Forcing a retrial in this and similar cases, where the undisputed evidence establishes that the greater crime was committed, is a waste of judicial resources, is inconsistent with Florida Supreme Court precedent where the harmless error doctrine has been applied, and cannot be justified on the basis of the jury pardon doctrine.

We, therefore, also certify a question of great public importance concerning whether failure to instruct a jury on the next immediate necessarily lesser-included offense may constitute harmless error where no reasonable jury could have returned a verdict for the lesser-included offense.

I. Facts

In this case, appellant was charged with battery upon a jail visitor or other detainee under sections 784.082 and 784.03, Florida Statutes (2014). Section 784.082(3) results in reclassification of the battery from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony because of its occurrence within a jail or detention facility.

The evidence is uncontroverted that appellant and the victim were detainees at the time of the battery. In fact, they were cellmates. Therefore, custody status was not an element of contemplation for the jury. The only issue for jury deliberation was whether a battery occurred. Accordingly, appellant’s conviction reflects a specific finding by the jury of satisfaction of the battery elements. Appellant’s request for a new trial, citing Wimberly, requires a complete disregard of the following: 1) the undisputed fact that appellant was an inmate; 2) the undisputed fact that the victim, appellant’s cellmate, was also an inmate; and 3) the fact that the jury was limited in its deliberation to determining whether appellant committed simple bat[281]*281tery, as the fact that appellant was an inmate was uncontested. Appellant desires and Wimberly supports an award of a new trial—essentially a second at-bat with the same pitcher, but a different fielding team. This scenario defies logic and irrationally places form over substance.

II. Inconsistency with Supreme Court of Florida’s Precedent

As previously mentioned, the rationale for not applying the harmless error analysis under these circumstances specifically conflicts with the holdings in Galindez and Hurst.

In Galindez, the Florida Supreme Court applied a harmless error analysis to affirm a sentence despite the jury not specifically making a determination of penetration in a lewd assault on a minor charge, explaining that in light of clear and uncontested record evidence, “no reasonable jury would have returned a verdict finding there was no penetration.” Galindez, 955 So.2d at 524. Although the error in Galindez was an Apprendi/Blakely Sixth Amendment violation, the Galindez court applied a harmless error analysis by relying on a case similar to the one at hand that held, “[wjhere the defendant alleged that error regarding a lesser included offense deprived him of a jury pardon, ‘[gjiven the evidence adduced at trial, the error also was harmless, since it is inconceivable that any rational jury could have returned a verdict finding that there was no firearm involved in the commission of the charged offenses.’ ” Galindez, 955 So.2d at 524 (quoting Delvalle v. State, 653 So.2d 1078, 1079 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) (citing State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986))). Following Galindez, this court has twice requested clarification from the Florida Supreme Court on its implied recession from a strict per se reversible error application in this context of the failure to instruct on a necessarily lesser-included offense. See Lindsay v. State, 1 So.3d 270 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009); Riley v. State, 25 So.3d 1 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008). However, review was denied.

Nevertheless, citing Galindez, the Florida Supreme Court recently extended harmless error analysis to the review of death penalty cases. See Hurst v. State, 202 So.3d 40 (Fla. 2016). On remand from the United States Supreme Court with specific instructions to review the violation of Hurst’s Sixth Amendment rights for harmless error, the Florida Supreme Court relied upon Washington v. Recuenco, 548 U.S. 212, 126 S.Ct. 2546, 165 L.Ed.2d 466 (2006), in noting “that failure to submit a sentencing factor to the jury in violation of Apprendi, Blakely, and the Sixth Amendment was not structural error that would always result in reversal.” Hurst, 202 So.3d at 67.

Setting out the harmless error analysis pursuant to Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), and State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla. 1986), the Florida Supreme Court instructed in Hurst:

The harmless error test, as set forth in Chapman and progeny, places the burden on the state, as the beneficiary of the error, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict or, alternatively stated, that there is no reasonable possibility that the error contributed to the conviction.

Hurst, 202 So.3d at 68 (quoting DiGuilio, 491 So.2d at 1138).

We acknowledge that the Florida Supreme Court has on numerous occasions upheld the per se reversible error doctrine in this type of case, in which there was a failure to instruct on the next necessarily lesser-included offense, but judicial inefficiency continues as a result. See Wilcott v. State, 509 So.2d 261, 262 (Fla. 1987) (reversing conviction for unlawfully introduc[282]*282ing or possessing contraband upon grounds of a correctional center because trial court refused to provide a jury instruction on simple possession of less than twenty grams of cannabis, even though the only evidence established that the possession did, in fact, occur in the prison and the defendant was an inmate); Wimberly, 498 So.2d 929 (reversing conviction for battery of a law enforcement officer even though uncontroverted evidence at trial established that the defendant was incarcerated at the time of the altercation and that he struck two law enforcement officers). District courts have been constrained to follow supreme court precedent in this area.2

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Related

Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Keeble v. United States
412 U.S. 205 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Hopper v. Evans
456 U.S. 605 (Supreme Court, 1982)
United States v. Gaudin
515 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Washington v. Recuenco
548 U.S. 212 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Jerome Campbell v. Ralph Coyle, Warden
260 F.3d 531 (Sixth Circuit, 2001)
State v. Abreau
363 So. 2d 1063 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)
Jess v. State
523 So. 2d 1268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1988)
Cooper v. State
512 So. 2d 1071 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)
Johnson v. State
695 So. 2d 787 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)
Delvalle v. State
653 So. 2d 1078 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Lindsay v. State
1 So. 3d 270 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2009)
Galindez v. State
955 So. 2d 517 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2007)
Riley v. State
25 So. 3d 1 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
Hoffman v. Jones
280 So. 2d 431 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1973)
Hayes v. State
564 So. 2d 161 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1990)
State v. Wimberly
498 So. 2d 929 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1986)
Traylor v. State
596 So. 2d 957 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1992)
Wilcott v. State
509 So. 2d 261 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1987)
State v. DiGuilio
491 So. 2d 1129 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
211 So. 3d 279, 2017 WL 486987, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 1442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-state-fladistctapp-2017.