Miller v. State

80 So. 314, 76 Fla. 518
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided December 5, 1918·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinions

West, J.

The defendants were convicted in the Circuit Court of Okaloosa County and sentenced to a term of years at hard labor in the State prison. The charge was breaking and entering a building with intent to commit a felony. From this judgment writ of error was taken from this court.

The first assignment of error is based upon the refusal of, the trial court to give a certain special charge requested in behalf of the defendants. In the briefs the fifth assignment is considered with the first. The fifth questions the soundness of the proposition announced in the fol[520] lowing paragraph embraced in the general charge of the court:

“Where one is found in the exclusive possession of goods stolen from a building at the time of a recent breaking and entering of a building the jury may infer from these facts that such persons not only stole the goods, but that they broke and entered the building with intent to steal the goods, unless such person gives directly, a reasonable and credible account as to how such goods came into his possession, or such an account as raises a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury of such person’s guilt, when it becomes the duty of the State to prove such an account is not true. Such account must not only be reasonable, but it must be credible, that is, worthy of belief, or enough so to raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury who are the judges of its reasonableness and probability, as well as its credibility.”

The principal criticism of this charge is that it confuses the singular and plural numbers, and in effect directs the jury to find both defendants guilty if they find that one of them was shown to have been in possession of the stolen goods, regardless of the reasonableness and credibility of the explanation of tbe other, or whether he made or offered any explanation at all. The charge is open to the criticism that it confuses the singular and plural numbers, due apparently to the fact that the judge was endeavoring to apply an abstract principle of law to a concrete case, but we cannot agree to the conclusion reached in the criticism made. Besides, in another part of the charge, the jury were instructed that under the law they might find one defendant guilty and one not guilty, or both guilty or both not guilty, thereby correcting the error, if any, by expressly negativing the construction contended for if the charge is susceptible of [521] such construction. It is well settled that, for the purpose of determining whether a charge upon a given subject is infected with error, the whole of the charge on the subject, and not portions of it only, should be considered. Barton v. State, 72 Fla. 408, 73 South. Rep. 230; Disney v. State, 72 Fla. 492, 73 South. Rep. 598. That the charge given states a correct proposition of law. See Revels v. State, 68 Fla. 74, 66 South. Rep. 422; McDonald v. State, 56 Fla. 74, 47 South. Rep. 485; Collier v. State, 55 Fla. 7, 45 South. Rep. 752.

The charge refused and the charge given are on the same subject, and the charge given covers the precise point covered by the charge requested. It is not error for the court to refuse to give requested instructions which are substantially covered by charges that are given. Hawthorne v. State, 72 Fla. 524, 73 South. Rep. 590; Hoskins v. State, 70 Fla. 186, 69 South. Rep. 701; Fine v. State, 70 Fla. 412, 70 South. Rep. 379; Goff v. State, 75 Fla. 87, 78 South. Rep. 877. There was, therefore, no error in refusing to give the requested charge.

Error is also predicated upon the refusal of the trial judge to give the following charge:

“The felonious intent is the gist of this sort of offense, and if you find that the defendants did break and enter the store described in the indictment, with the intent alleged, but that they did so while not in possession of their faculties to such an extent that they did not know what they were doing, either from intoxication which was involuntary or from being persuaded to do by another who had and exercised over them undue influence, they would not lfave that felonious intent and you should find them not guilty.”

The first statement in this charge, namely, “the felonious intent is the gist' of this sort of offense” is sound [522] (McNair v. State, 61 Fla. 35, 55 South. Rep. 401), but the remainder of the charge is not applicable to the facts in-this case. It is true that it appears from the evidence that the defendants had drunk some ”rum” at the time of the commission of the alleged offense, but there is no testimony tending to show either that they were not in the full possession of their mental faculties at such time, or that they were persuaded to commit the offense by one who exercised undue influence over them. Both of the defendants testified as witnesses in the case and there is nothing in the testimony of either of them that may properly be regarded as a proper basis for sucli a charge. It is well settled that instructions to the jury must be based upon facts in proof and must be applicable to such facts. 14 R. C. L. 786; 12 Cyc. 651; Davis v. State, 66 Fla. 349, 63 South. Rep. 847; Settles v. State, 75 Fla. 296, 78 South. Rep. 287; Milligan v. State, 75 Fla. 815, 78 South Rep. 535; Ward v. State, 75 Fla. 756, 79 South. Rep. 699.

By assignment number three it is contended that the court erred in instructing the jury that the way in which the defendants were apprehended had nothing whatever tó do with the case, provided they were satisfied by the evidence of their guilt. It appears from the evidence that the building, with the breaking and entry of which the defendants were charged, had been broken and entered several times prior to the breaking and entry for which they were indicted; that the Sheriff of the county had directed a deputy sheriff to investigate the case; that after doing so, and upon instructions from the Sheriff he agreed with the defendants who knew he was a deputy sheriff to go into the building with them; that the defendants- with the deputy sheriff thereupon broke and entered the building, took certain goods from it and the defendants were shortly thereafter, after separating from the deputy sher[523] iff while the goods taken were in their possession, arrested by the Sheriff and another deputy sheriff. It may be true, in view of the fact that the defendants are immature young men, that the means employed to ascertain who it was that had broken and entered the building and apprehend the offenders are not to be commended, but to instruct the jury in effect that if they are satisfied by the evidence adduced of the guilt of the defendants, that the method employed by the officers of the law in apprehending them lids nothing to do with the case is not reversible error.

Assignments numbers six, seven and eight are considered together in the briefs.

Assignment six challenges the soundness of the following paragraph of the general charge:

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Miller v. State, 80 So. 314, 76 Fla. 518 (Fla. 1918).

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