Ramirez v. State

133 So. 3d 648, 2014 WL 996524, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 3604
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 14, 2014
DocketNo. 1D13-681
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 133 So. 3d 648 (Ramirez 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
Ramirez v. State, 133 So. 3d 648, 2014 WL 996524, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 3604 (Fla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

WETHERELL, J.

Appellant, Jehu Ramirez, was sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison after being found guilty of sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation of a four-year-old girl, A.Z. Ramirez raises six issues on appeal, only two of which merit discussion: (1) whether the trial court erred in admitting his confession into evidence without first determining that the confession was trustworthy as required by section 92.565, Florida Statutes; and (2) whether his dual convictions violate the prohibition against double jeopardy. We affirm the first issue because section 92.565 only applies where the State is unable to prove corpus delicti and, here, the State presented sufficient evidence to establish corpus delicti before introducing Ramirez’s confession. However, as to the second issue, we agree with Ramirez that his dual convictions violate the prohibition against double jeopardy under this court’s precedent. Accordingly, we reverse Ramirez’s conviction for lewd or lascivious molestation and remand to the trial court to vacate that conviction. We affirm the other issues raised by Ramirez without further comment.

Facts

On April 9, 2010, Ramirez’s girlfriend, Ana Salinas, was babysitting A.Z. at Salinas’ house while A.Z.’s mother was at work. Ramirez lived with Salinas and was the only adult male in the'house on that day. When AZ.’s mother picked her up, A.Z. told her that Ramirez touched her “vulva,” which was the word A.Z. used to refer to her vagina. Later that day, A.Z’s mother took A.Z. to the hospital where she was examined by a nurse practitioner. The examination did not find any evidence of sexual abuse, but A.Z.’s blood was found in her panties.

Several days later, A.Z. was interviewed by a member of the child protection team (CPT). A.Z. told the CPT interviewer that a man put his finger inside her “vulva” when she was at Salinas’ house while her mother was at work. She told the CPT interviewer that the incident happened in a bedroom while Salinas was cooking food for the other children at the house, and she explained that the man opened her legs and put his finger all the way inside of her. She also told the CPT interviewer that the man touched her “bumpie,” which was the word A.Z. used to describe her buttocks.

The following day, Ramirez was interviewed by a deputy with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office. He initially denied touching A.Z. inappropriately, but he eventually admitted to sexually abusing her by putting his fingers inside her vagina. He stated that he was in his bedroom with A.Z. when the abuse occurred and his description of the incident matched the description given by A.Z. to the CPT inter[650]*650viewer. Ramirez was thereafter arrested and charged with sexual battery under section 794.011(2)(a), Florida Statutes, for “placing his fingers inside the vagina of A.Z.” and with lewd or lascivious molestation under section 800.04(5)(b), Florida Statutes, for “touching] the breast, genitals, genital area, or buttocks, or the clothing covering them, of A.Z.”

The case went to trial in October 2012. The State’s first witness was A.Z., who was seven years old at the time of trial. She testified that, although she did not remember all of the details, she remembered that a man did something to her when she was four years old that she did not like. A.Z. testified that her mother was at work and that she was at her babysitter’s house when a man touched her on her front “private part” and put his fingers inside her “vulva.” She testified that it hurt and that she told her mother what happened when her mother picked her up that day even though the man told her not to tell anyone what happened. A.Z. described the man as having black hair and a dark tan, but she was not able to identify Ramirez as the man at trial.

The State next presented the testimony of A.Z.’s mother. The mother described what A.Z. told her when she picked up A.Z. from Salinas house on the day of the incident. She was also unable to identify Ramirez at trial because, even though she knew that Salinas’ boyfriend lived with her at the time of the incident, most of her contact was with Salinas.

The State next presented testimony of the CPT interviewer and played the video of the CPT interview for the jury.1 In the video, A.Z. described the incident at Salinas’ house when a man put his finger in her “vulva” and she also described how the man touched her “bumpie.”

The State then presented the testimony of the deputy who investigated the case and interviewed Ramirez. The deputy testified as to how Ramirez was identified as the likely perpetrator, but when the prosecutor started to question the deputy about his interview with Ramirez, defense counsel objected. Counsel argued that the State had not established a corpus delicti because no evidence was presented identifying Ramirez as the man who had inappropriately touched A.Z. Counsel also questioned the trustworthiness of the confession. The trial court overruled the objection and the deputy thereafter testified that, during the interview, Ramirez confessed to putting his fingers into A.Z.’s vagina. The video of Ramirez’s confession was also played for the jury.

Finally, the State presented the testimony of Salinas. She testified that Ramirez lived with her and that he was the only adult male present in the house on the day of the incident. However, she also testified that Ramirez was not alone with A.Z. on the day of the incident; that A.Z. was never in the bedroom where she claimed the incident occurred; and that A.Z. did not appear to be sad and was acting normal when her mother picked her up on the day of the incident.

In closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury that the lewd or lascivious molestation count required the State to prove that Ramirez “touched the breasts, the genitals, genital area, or the buttocks ... any one of those ....” In arguing how the State met its burden of proof as to this count, the prosecutor told the jury that [651]*651“[A.Z.] clearly demonstrated in her CPT video that [Ramirez’s] hand went inside her pants, it went inside her underwear, it went inside her vagina.” Defense counsel objected and, at sidebar, told the court that it was her understanding that “Count I [sexual battery] goes to the touching of the vagina, and Count II [lewd or lascivious molestation] goes to ... the touching of the buttocks.” The prosecutor responded that “Count I is the digital penetration and Count II is touching.” The trial court overruled the objection based upon the language of the information, which, in Count II, referred to touching of either genitals or buttocks. Immediately thereafter, the prosecutor argued to the jury that in “Count I we had to prove he penetrated, and Count II we had to prove he just touched.”

The jury found Ramirez guilty as charged on both counts. The trial court sentenced Ramirez to consecutive terms of life in prison and designated him as a sexual predator. This appeal followed.

Analysis

In his first issue on appeal, Ramirez contends that the trial court erred in admitting his confession because the trial court did not find that the confession was trustworthy as required by section 92.565. We find no merit in this argument.

In criminal prosecutions, the State is required to prove corpus delicti independently of the defendant’s confession before the confession may be admitted into evidence. Franqui v. State, 699 So.2d 1312, 1317 (Fla.1997). To do so, the State must establish:

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Bluebook (online)
133 So. 3d 648, 2014 WL 996524, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 3604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramirez-v-state-fladistctapp-2014.