Miller v. State

667 So. 2d 325, 1995 WL 619215
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided October 24, 1995·No. 94-2007·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

667 So.2d 325 (1995)

Dean A. MILLER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida Appellee.

No. 94-2007.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

October 24, 1995.

*326 Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; Fred Parker Bingham II, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Mark Menser, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for appellee.

WOLF, Judge.

Dean A. Miller appeals from a final judgment and sentence for resisting arrest with violence, battery upon a law enforcement officer, corruption by threat to a public official, criminal mischief by damage to property in the amount of $1,000 or greater, and disorderly conduct. Appellant raises four issues on appeal: (1) Whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain appellant's conviction for disorderly conduct; (2) whether the trial court erred in admitting similar fact evidence; (3) whether the allegations of count III were sufficient to charge the crime of corruption or influence of a public official by threat; and (4) whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction and sentence of the charged offense of criminal mischief, a third-degree felony. We find merit as to all of the issues except the second issue. We, therefore, reverse as to the first, third, and fourth issues, and affirm as to the second issue.

James Newsome, a courthouse employee and auxiliary deputy, lives next door to appellant, his wife, and stepson. On the evening of May 23, 1993, appellant's stepson went to Newsome's house and stated that appellant had been drinking, he and his wife were arguing, and appellant had hit his wife. Appellant's stepson asked Newsome to call the sheriff's office. Mr. Newsome called for backup, and waited at his house until Deputy Cook arrived. The two men then walked up to appellant's wife, who invited them into the house. Appellant "was lying on the floor in a fetal position in the kitchen." Appellant awakened and said that he wanted to leave, but his wife would not let him have the keys to his van. Appellant then began to get loud, and "was cussing a little bit." Mrs. Smith *327 arrived and told appellant she would be willing to take him to his van. Appellant then started getting loud and cursing everyone, and that's when Officer Cook placed him under arrest. Newsome gave the following description of the circumstances of the arrest:

A. Out in the yard, getting ready for them to leave he started cussing real loud, and Officer Cook then placed him under arrest.
Q. Who was he cussing at?
A. Everyone.
Q. Did he say anything specifically to Mrs. Smith?
A. He was cussing at her too, also.
Q. Was this in a residential area?
A. Yes.
Q. Were other houses around?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Late at night?
A. Yes, sir, and Deputy Cook placed him under arrest for disorderly conduct. Yes, sir, he did.

Deputy Cook handcuffed appellant's hands behind his back and walked him to the car, with no problem. He said that he handcuffed appellant and took him to the patrol car without incident. He said that he advised appellant that he had a canine in the back seat, and he told appellant to stay still and the dog would not bother him. As Deputy Cook started to fasten appellant's seat belt, appellant swiveled and kicked Cook in the chest. Cook said the dog started to bark and continued to bark very loudly. Deputy Cook's car has no dog cage. Newsome heard "hollering" when Deputy Cook and appellant got to the car. As Deputy Cook waved to Newsome to assist him, Newsome saw appellant kick Cook in the chest. Newsome did not see the dog at appellant's head and did not see the dog bite appellant. Deputy Cook called for assistance. A deputy and an auxiliary deputy arrived within five minutes. The officers held appellant down while Deputy Cook put restraints on his legs. Newsome stated that during the struggle, appellant said he would kill the officer, his dog, and his wife when he got out of jail.

After leg restraints were placed on appellant, the officers carried him to Deputy Shiver's car. During this process, appellant "was still cussing, kicking, trying to kick." After being placed in the back of Deputy Shiver's car, appellant kicked out the right rear window. No evidence was presented concerning the value of the broken window. Appellant then came out of the broken window head first. At that point, officers took him to the ground, handcuffed his ankles, then carried him to Officer Forehand's car. Appellant was taken to the maximum security cell at the jail, still "cussing real loud, hollering at everybody."

At trial, Jonathan Stripling, appellant's stepson, essentially testified that there was no problem at the time of arrest until appellant was put in the police car and the police dog started biting and nipping at appellant's head. The stepson also stated that appellant kept repeating, "Don't let the dog bite me." Appellant, appellant's wife, and a neighbor also testified that appellant was cooperative until the police dog started nipping at his head.

At trial, the state, over defendant's objection, introduced evidence involving arrest incidents in 1986 in Panama City Beach and in 1990 in Washington County. In both incidents, appellant seemingly went berserk and was charged with resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. The trial court ruled the evidence was "admissible to show lack of accident or lack of the defense of the dog made me do it."

1. Sufficiency of evidence of disorderly conduct

In State v. Saunders, 339 So.2d 641, 643 (Fla. 1976), the supreme court adopted a narrow construction of section 877.03, Florida Statutes, so that the statute could withstand constitutional challenges. The supreme court stated,

[W]e now limit the application of Section 877.03[, Florida Statutes,] so that it shall hereafter only apply either to words which "by their very utterance... inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of *328 the peace," White v. State, 330 So.2d at 7;[1]see Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 572, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031 (1942); or to words, known to be false, reporting some physical hazard in circumstances where such a report creates a clear and present danger of bodily harm to others. We construe the statute so that no words except "fighting words" or words like shouts of "fire" in a crowded theatre fall within its proscription, in order to avoid the constitutional problem of overbreadth, and "the danger that a citizen will be punished as a criminal for exercising his right of free speech." Spears v. State, 337 So.2d at 980.[2] With these two exceptions, Section 877.03 should not be read to proscribe the use of language in any fashion whatsoever [footnote omitted]. To this extent, we modify our previous decisions construing the statute.

Id. at 643 (footnotes to citations added).

The record in this case reflects that appellant was arrested because he continued to "cuss" and argue about his van keys in a loud voice after Deputy Cook told him to calm down. This conduct occurred within the confines of appellant's dwelling.[3] Although appellant's voice was loud and his language m

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Miller v. State, 667 So. 2d 325, 1995 WL 619215 (Fla. Ct. App. 1995).

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