Pickett v. State

109 So. 3d 841, 2013 WL 811642, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 3494
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 6, 2013
DocketNo. 3D10-3362
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 109 So. 3d 841 (Pickett 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
Pickett v. State, 109 So. 3d 841, 2013 WL 811642, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 3494 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

EMAS, J.

Frederic Pickett appeals the trial court’s denial of his motion for new trial on the charge of witness tampering, contending that the jury was improperly instructed on a theory of the crime not charged in the information, and that this unpreserved error is fundamental, requiring a new trial. We affirm.

The evidence at trial established that on March 5, 2009, Pickett and Crystal Hawkins were arguing in Hawkins’ house. The argument escalated, and Hawkins attempted to leave her house. Pickett proceeded to punch Hawkins twice in the stomach. Hawkins had previously told Pickett that she was six weeks’ pregnant. These events formed the basis for the charge of aggravated battery on a pregnant victim.

Several days later, Pickett and Hawkins were involved in another argument. As the argument escalated, Hawkins tried to leave her house. Pickett aimed a gun at her face and demanded that she come back inside the house. Hawkins returned to the house and, after further argument and threats by Pickett, Hawkins left the house, picked up her children from a neighbor’s house and headed for the bus stop. Pickett followed Hawkins to the bus stop and called Hawkins on her cell phone after Hawkins got on the bus, telling Hawkins that he was coming after her. Hawkins then got off the bus and called the police. A police officer responded to the scene and, using Hawkins’s cell phone, called Pickett to hear his side of the story. According to the officer, Pickett became belligerent over the'phone. Hawkins stayed at a friend’s house that night and went to the police station the next day for further assistance. The police placed Hawkins and her children in a domestic violence shelter where they lived for three months. These events formed the basis for the charge of armed false imprisonment.

On April 7, 2009, Pickett called Hawkins, threatening that “if he found out that the police were looking for him, he was going to F me up. And if he found out he [was] getting prison time, he [was] going to send somebody to kill me.” This phone call formed the basis for the charge of tampering with a witness.

On April 15, 2009, Pickett was taken into custody, and was later charged in a five-count information. Relevant for our pur[843]*843poses,1 Pickett was charged in Count One with aggravated battery on a pregnant victim (a second-degree felony), in Count Four with armed false imprisonment (a second-degree felony), and in Count Five with tampering with a witness or victim in an investigation of a second-degree felony (thereby making Count Five a first-degree felony).

As to the tampering charge, the information read in pertinent part:

FREDRIC FREEMAN PICKETT, JR., on or about April 7, 2009, did unlawfully and knowingly threaten or attempt to threaten a victim, to-wit: CRYSTAL HAWKINS with the intent to cause or induce said person to withhold testimony, ... from an official investigation or official proceeding ... or hinder, delay, or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer or judge of information relating to the commission or possible commission of an offense ... when said official investigation or official proceeding affected is the investigation or prosecution of a second degree felony, to wit: AGGRAVATED BATTERY ON A PREGNANT PERSON AND/OR ... FALSE IMPRISONMENT, in violation of s. 914.22(1) and s. 914.22(2)(c), Fla. Stat.

At trial, the following jury instruction was given:

Tampering with a victim. To prove the crime of tampering with the victim, the state must prove the following three elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Then the third element is, he did so during an official investigation or prosecution for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim, and/or armed false imprisonment.

Pickett contends that the jury was improperly instructed that it could convict him of tampering with an armed, false imprisonment investigation (a second-degree felony), where the information alleged interference with a false imprisonment investigation (a third-degree felony).2 Although Pickett concedes that he expressly agreed to the giving of the above instruction, Pickett argues that the instruction constitutes fundamental error, and that such error necessitates a new trial on the tampering charge. We disagree.

Jury instructions are “subject to the contemporaneous objection rule, and absent an objection at trial, can be raised on appeal only if fundamental error occurred.” Reed v. State, 837 So.2d 366, 370 (Fla.2002) (quoting State v. Delva, 575 So.2d 643, 644 (Fla.1991)). “Fundamental error occurs when the omission or inclusion in the instruction is material to what the jury must consider in order to convict.” Delva, 575 So.2d at 645 (quoting Stewart v. State, 420 So.2d 862, 863 (Fla.1982)). In the case at bar, however, Pickett did not simply fail to preserve this issue by failing to object, but expressly agreed to the instruction he now claims was erroneously given.

Even if an erroneous jury instruction constitutes fundamental error, this Court has held that the error is deemed waived if [844]*844counsel requests, or affirmatively accepts, the erroneous jury instruction. Martinez v. State, 98 So.3d 1190 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012); Jimenez v. State, 994 So.2d 1141, 1142-43 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008); Falwell v. State, 88 So.3d 970 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012); Tindall v. State, 997 So.2d 1260, 1261 (Fla. 5th DCA 2009). During the charge conference, when the court explained that it added the word “armed” to the false imprisonment language of the tampering instruction, to determine the degree of the felony under investigation, defense counsel replied: “That’s fine.” In doing so, Pickett waived his right to raise this issue on appeal.

Even if no waiver had occurred by Pickett’s affirmative consent to the jury instruction, the giving of the instruction was not fundamentally erroneous. Pickett argues that including the word “armed” in the instruction, when the word “armed” was not expressly included in the tampering count of the information, permitted the jury to convict Pickett on an “alternative theory” not charged in the information, resulting in a denial of due process, and was thus was fundamental error. We do not agree.

The instruction did not permit the jury to convict the defendant on an alternative theory not charged in the information.3 To determine whether Pickett’s due process rights were denied, we focus our analysis first on whether the information wholly failed to charge a crime under the laws of the state. See Baker v. State, 4 So.3d 758 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (citing State v. Gray, 435 So.2d 816 (Fla.1983)). If the answer is “no,” whether the charging document failed to adequately place Pickett on notice of the nature of the tampering charge, such that he was unable to properly prepare a defense to the charge. Baker, 4 So.3d at 758. Even where a charging document omits an essential element, it may still be found sufficient if it “references a specific section of the criminal code which sufficiently details all the elements of the offense.” Id. at 761 (quoting DuBoise v. State, 520 So.2d 260, 265 (Fla.1988)).

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Bluebook (online)
109 So. 3d 841, 2013 WL 811642, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 3494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pickett-v-state-fladistctapp-2013.