Richards v. State

128 So. 3d 959, 2013 WL 6925444, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 20511
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided December 27, 2013·No. No. 2D11-1484·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

KELLY, Judge.

In this appeal, John Richards challenges his conviction for attempted second-degree murder, arguing that he is entitled to a new trial. He contends that the standard jury instruction on attempted manslaughter,1 which was read to the jury, was flawed and that its use amounted to fundamental error. While this case was pending on appeal, the Florida Supreme Court decided Williams v. State, 123 So.3d 23 (Fla.2013), and it held that the standard instruction was flawed.2 It also found that in that case its use amounted to fundamental error. Thus, while Williams disposes of Mr. Richards’ contention that the attempted manslaughter instruction was flawed, we must still determine whether its use constitutes fundamental error in this case. Because we conclude it does not, we [961] affirm Mr. Richards’ conviction for attempted second-degree murder.

Mr. Richards was charged with attempted second-degree murder after he stabbed David Russell in the neck, apparently in an altercation over some beer. During his trial, Mr. Richards testified that both men were seated on a bench in the park, when Mr. Russell, not satisfied with the vodka that he had been sharing with friends, began to hound Mr. Richards for a beer, a request Mr. Richards repeatedly rejected, citing his lack of funds to buy more when his current supply was exhausted. Unable to take “no” for an answer, Mr. Russell helped himself to some of the beer Mr. Richards was drinking after Mr. Richards sat it down for a moment. Mr. Richards complained, and Mr. Russell responded with various threats and a punch to Mr. Richards’ face. Mr. Richards explained that he tried to stand up but Mr. Russell, who was now standing, “pushed me back down, slammed me on the bench and grabbed me by the throat.” Mr. Richards stated that he pulled out his knife in self-defense and that “after I stuck him, he stopped, well, squeezing my throat” and eventually he slumped down and Mr. Richards was able to get up.

An officer who interviewed Mr. Richards after the stabbing testified that Mr. Richards had told him that Mr. Russell had “bowed up” on him and he “wasn’t going to be disrespected” and that he “hoped he killed the dude, as he needed to make sure that other people understood that he wasn’t to be disrespected.” Other witnesses offered a different account. They said they saw Mr. Richards lean over and bite Mr. Russell and then start swinging the knife at Mr. Russell’s head and throat. One of the witnesses said he pried the knife from Mr. Richards’ hand while Mr. Russell held Mr. Richards’ wrist. Mr. Russell then punched Mr. Richards in the face before collapsing.

In closing, the State took the position that Mr. Richards’ version of events — that Mr. Russell attacked him over a beer when he had a full half-gallon of vodka he was sharing with friends — was not credible. Rather, the State argued, “this was not an act of self-defense,” it “was an act of rage.” Mr. Richards’ counsel, on the other hand, argued that Mr. Richards had acted in self-defense and that it was not credible that Mr. Richards would “just jump up and start stabbing somebody” without provocation. Mr. Richards’ counsel told the jurors they should read the instruction on justifiable use of deadly force, which was “basically the self-defense instruction” and that when they did, they would see “that this scenario is exactly this and that my client is not guilty because he acted in his own self-defense and it was justifiable use of that deadly force.” The State responded by explaining to the jurors that even if they thought Mr. Richards believed he could stab someone in self-defense because they “bowed up” on him, the instructions the court would read to them would show the law required more than that.

At this juncture we should explain that this was the second time Mr. Richards was on trial for stabbing Mr. Russell. He was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder but was convicted of attempted second-degree murder. That conviction was overturned on appeal because the jury received an incorrect instruction on justifiable use of deadly force, which had been Mr. Richards’ sole defense. Richards v. State, 39 So.3d 431, 434 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010). On remand, Mr. Richards was retried on a charge of attempted second-degree murder. Because in the original trial Mr. Richards had been charged with attempted first-degree murder, the jury had been instructed on attempted man[962] slaughter as a lesser included offense. However, whether to instruct on manslaughter became an issue in the second trial because the standard jury instructions did not include attempted manslaughter as a lesser included offense of attempted second-degree murder. See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 6.4 (2006).3

As a result, when the trial court was ready to go over the jury instructions, the State commented that “we may need to do some editing there,” to which the court responded “and there was an attempted voluntary manslaughter instruction given in the last trial, and it also appeared on the verdict form.” The State responded that “here’s the issue for resolution of the Court. Attempted voluntary manslaughter does not appear as either a Categoiy 1 or Category 2 lesser included of 6.4, attempted second-degree homicide. However, it does appear as a — I believe, a Category 1 of second-degree homicide.” The court responded, “All right. I — this is the way I’ll handle it. If the Defense requests it, I’ll give it. If they don’t want it, I won’t give it.” Mr. Richards’ counsel replied, “We’re requesting it, Judge.” As a result of Mr. Richards’ request for the instruction, the attempted voluntary manslaughter instruction was read to the jury.

The court also discussed what needed to be done to the verdict form used in the first trial, noting that the attempted first-degree murder charge would be omitted from the verdict form. Because the charged crime was now attempted second-degree murder, the parties agreed that the lesser included offenses had to be reordered with aggravated battery as the next lesser offense, and then attempted manslaughter, followed by aggravated assault, and then battery. Assault was added as the final lesser offense.

The jury convicted Mr. Richards of attempted second-degree murder. In this appeal, Mr. Richards contends that the standard attempted manslaughter jury instruction that was read to the jury was flawed because it said the jury had to find the defendant committed an act that was intended to cause the death of Mr. Russell. He claims that the giving of the instruction was fundamental error and, therefore, that he is entitled to a new trial.

The supreme court has recently held that the standard attempted manslaughter instruction is flawed. See Williams, 123 So.3d at 30. That, however, does not resolve the question of whether the use of the instruction in Mr. Richards’ case requires a new trial. Mr. Richards did not object to the instruction; thus, he is only entitled to a new trial if use of the instruction in his case amounted to fundamental error, and, if it was fundamental error, he did not waive the error. We conclude that the error was not fundamen-

ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER — 782.04(2) and 777.04

CATEGORY ONE CATEGORY TWO FLA. STAT. INS. NO.

None

Aggravated assault 784.021 8.2

Aggravated battery 784.045 8.4

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Richards v. State, 128 So. 3d 959, 2013 WL 6925444, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 20511 (Fla. Ct. App. 2013).

128 So. 3d 959 (Richards v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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