Roberts v. State

168 So. 3d 252, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 9277, 2015 WL 3777705
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 18, 2015
DocketNo. 1D14-0321
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 168 So. 3d 252 (Roberts 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
Roberts v. State, 168 So. 3d 252, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 9277, 2015 WL 3777705 (Fla. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

WOLF, J.

Appellant challenges her judgment and sentence for attempted second-degree murder. She raises three issues on appeal. We affirm, but find two issues merit discussion: whether the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to instruct on the. necessarily lesser-included offense of attempted manslaughter, and whether the trial court committed fundamental error in giving contradictory instructions on the duty to retreat which misstated the law and negated appellant’s only defense.

I. FACTS

The State presented evidence that appellant shot the victim, Catrina Howard, in the face during a dispute over a marijuana transaction. Howard testified that her cousin, Jason Marks, was attempting to purchase marijuana from appellant, but they got into a verbal dispute over payment. Howard stated that appellant then pulled out a gun. Howard testified she became defensive for both herself and her [254]*254cousin, so she punched appellant once in the face. In response, she stated appellant raised the gun and pointed it at her, and she put up her hands defensively in front of her face. Appellant then fired once, shooting Howard in the neck and hand. Howard testified that at the time of the shooting, she was standing ten feet away from appellant, she was not advancing on appellant or trying to hit her again, and no one was threatening appellant. Marks gave testimony consistent with that of Howard. A passerby also gave similar testimony that he saw appellant shoot the victim, who was not moving aggressively towards appellant.

Appellant testified in her own defense. She stated that she had the gun to her side and was backing away from Howard and Marks, trying to retreat, when Howard punched her. Appellant testified she raised the gun, aimed it at Howard, and fired because she believed doing so was necessary to protect herself. She stated she believed that Howard and Marks would have “jumped” her if she had not shot Howard.

The jury was instructed on the charged offense of attempted second-degree murder, as well as the lesser-included offenses of aggravated battery and aggravated assault. Counsel did not request an instruction on attempted manslaughter, and no such instruction was given. The jury found appellant guilty of attempted second-degree murder as charged.

II. MANSLAUGHTER AS A NECESSARILY LESSER-INCLUDED OFFENSE

Appellant argues the trial court committed fundamental error by failing to instruct on attempted manslaughter, which is a necessarily lesser-included offense only one step removed from attempted second-degree murder, for which she was convicted. See Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 7.4. See also State v. Montgomery, 39 So.3d 252, 259 (Fla.2010) (manslaughter is one step removed from second-degree murder and thus a necessarily lesser included offense); Williams v. State, 123 So.3d 23, 30 (Fla.2013) (reiterating that attempted manslaughter by act continues to be a cognizable offense so long as there is evidence that the defendant had the requisite intent to commit an unlawful act, although there is no crime of attempted manslaughter by culpable negligence).

Appellant reasons that because giving an erroneous or incomplete instruction on manslaughter as a necessarily lesser-included offense can be fundamental error, then the complete failure to instruct on manslaughter as a necessarily lesser-included offense must also be fundamental error. For the reasons discussed below, we disagree and find there was no fundamental error here.

Appellant notes it is well-established that if an instruction is requested, “the failure to instruct on the next immediate lesser-included offense (one step removed) constitutes error that is per se reversible.” State v. Abreau, 363 So.2d 1063, 1064 (Fla.1978). Appellant acknowledges that in Morris v. State, 658 So.2d 155 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995), this court found it is not fundamental error to fail to instruct on a necessarily lesser included offense in a non-capital case. However, she argues Morris is no longer good law. She argues the Morris court reached that determination by misconstruing the supreme court’s decision in Jones v. State, 484 So.2d 577 (Fla.1986). She further argues Morris was implicitly overruled by Montgomery, 39 So.3d at 259, and Haygood v. State, 109 So.3d 735, 741 (Fla.2013), in which the supreme court held that an inaccurate instruction on manslaughter as a lesser-in-[255]*255eluded offense only one step removed can constitute fundamental error.

Alternatively, appellant argues that if this court finds Morris correctly interpreted Jones as holding that the failure to request an instruction on a necessarily lesser-included offense in a non-capital case is not fundamental error, then appellant argues Jones is inconsistent with Montgomery, Haygood, and State v. Lucas, 645 So.2d 425, 426-27 (Fla.1994), all of which held an incomplete or erroneous instruction on manslaughter as a lesser-included offense only one step removed may be fundamental error.

As will be discussed below, we find (A) Morris correctly interpreted Jones, which held the failure to instruct on a necessarily lesser-included offense is not fundamental error in a non-capital case; and (B) Jones is not inconsistent with Lucas, Montgomery, or Haygood.

A. Jones

Appellant concedes that in Morris v. State, 658 So.2d 155, 156 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995), this court held the failure to instruct on a next lesser-included offense in a non-capital case is not fundamental error, relying on Jones, 484 So.2d 577. Appellant argues the Morris court misinterpreted the Jones opinion. We find this argument is without merit, and that it is well-established that the failure to instruct on a necessarily lesser-included offense is not fundamental error in a non-capital case.

In Jones, 484 So.2d at 579, the supreme court recognized that “a capital defendant, as a matter of due process, is entitled to have the jury instructed on all necessarily lesser included offenses,” and waiver of this right must be made by the defendant personally, not merely by counsel. However, the Jones court declined to extend this rule to non-capital cases, finding that “to apply the label ‘fundamental error’ ” in non-capital cases would “stray from the long and unbroken lines of precedent conditioning a right to jury instructions on lesser included offenses upon a request for such instructions ... and requiring a contemporaneous objection as a predicate to proper appellate review.” Id. (citing State v. Bruns, 429 So.2d 307 (Fla.1983); Harris v. State, 438 So.2d 787 (Fla.1983); Griffin v. State, 414 So.2d 1025 (Fla.1982); Ray v. State, 403 So.2d 956 (Fla.1981); Wheat v. State, 433 So.2d 1290 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Chester v. State, 441 So.2d 1165 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)). Thus, the court concluded “no personal waiver is required in order to guarantee fundamental fairness in the non-capital context.” Id.

Appellant argues that Jones merely held a personal waiver of an instruction on a necessarily lesser-included offense is not required in a non-capital case. However, it seems appellant overlooks the Jones

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
168 So. 3d 252, 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 9277, 2015 WL 3777705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roberts-v-state-fladistctapp-2015.