Smallridge v. State

904 So. 2d 601, 2005 WL 1420858
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 20, 2005
Docket1D03-4751
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 904 So. 2d 601 (Smallridge 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
Smallridge v. State, 904 So. 2d 601, 2005 WL 1420858 (Fla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

904 So.2d 601 (2005)

Eric William SMALLRIDGE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 1D03-4751.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

June 20, 2005.

*603 Robert Augustus Harper, and Robert Augustus Harper, III, of Robert Augustus Harper Law Firm, P.A., Tallahassee, and Michael Robert Ufferman of Michael Ufferman Law Firm, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Charlie Crist, Attorney General, and Carolyn J. Mosley, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from two convictions of manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) in violation of section 316.193(3)(c)3, Florida Statutes (2001). We affirm all issues and specifically address five of the eight issues raised.

Eric Smallridge first contends the lower court erred by instructing the jury it could find appellant guilty if he caused or contributed to the cause of the deaths of the two victims, because, at the time of the offense, the DUI statute only criminalized conduct that "caused" the death of a victim, not conduct that merely "contributed to the cause" of the death, and the information filed in the case alleged only the "cause" theory. Smallridge timely objected to the court's use of Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) DUI Manslaughter, which provides that before a jury can find a defendant guilty of such offense, the state must prove, among other things, that the "(defendant) caused or contributed to the death of (victim)." Appellant argues that the charge as given broadens the information by including a theory not authorized in the underlying statute, section 316.193(3)(c)3.[1] We reject this argument and conclude the term "cause" encompasses a cause which contributes to an injury.

In creating the DUI manslaughter instruction, the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases referred to the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in Magaw v. State, 537 So.2d 564 (Fla.1989), which, in construing the 1986 amendments to the DUI manslaughter statute, noted that before the revisions, the statute was, in effect, a strict-liability statute, and that the legislature had for the first time added to it a causation element. In particular, the court observed:

We conclude that the 1986 amendment introduced causation as an element of the crimes proscribed by section 316.193(3). We caution, however, that the statute does not say that the operator of the vehicle must be the sole cause of the fatal accident. Moreover, the state is not required to prove that the operator's drinking caused the accident. The statute requires only that the operation *604 of the vehicle should have caused the accident. Therefore, any deviation or lack of care on the part of a driver under the influence to which the fatal accident can be attributed will suffice.

Id. at 567 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted).

Smallridge takes particular comfort in a concurring opinion contained in a later opinion of the supreme court wherein Justice Anstead expressed criticism of the language of the instruction by its addition of the words "caused or contributed to the cause" of the victim's death, noting that such language "greatly expand[ed] the reach of this penal statute." State v. Hubbard, 751 So.2d 552, 566 (Fla.1999) (Anstead, J., specially concurring). Notwithstanding Justice Anstead's assessment of the statute, the majority did not incorporate his views within its opinion, wherein it observed that the standard jury instruction, as it pertained to causation, reflected the Magaw analysis, which in turn had recognized that a vehicle's operator need not be the sole cause of injury. Id. at 564. The court specifically noted that the 1986 amendments "included only a nexus between an accident and the operation of a vehicle." Id. In fact, no Florida court, since the adoption of the instruction, has disapproved its use. See, generally, Tyner v. State, 805 So.2d 862 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Gerlitz v. State, 725 So.2d 393 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Carter v. State, 710 So.2d 110 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). As a consequence, we reject appellant's arguments that the trial court erred in giving the standard instruction on DUI manslaughter.

Neither can we agree with the argument that the lower court erred in denying appellant's motion to suppress the results of a blood-alcohol test on the ground that the blood was seized from him in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel and his statutory right to an independent blood test. The record reflects that following the accident, occurring early in the morning of May 11, 2002, resulting in the deaths of two young women, investigating officers at the scene told Smallridge of the statutory requirement that he submit to a blood-alcohol test. Smallridge then placed a call to his father, an attorney, on his cellular phone, attempting to explain to him what had occurred, and the officers at that point took the phone from him and ended the call. After the blood draw, appellant was placed in the back of a patrol car for another 1-1/2 hours, without access to a telephone. One officer placed calls to numbers appellant provided to assist him in obtaining a ride home, but no one then offered him the use of a telephone or the opportunity to call his father. Appellant's friends collected him between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m., two to three hours following the draw.

At the hearing on the motion to suppress, appellant's father testified that had appellant been allowed uninterrupted telephone access with him, he would have advised his son of his right, provided by section 316.1932(1)(f)3, Florida Statutes (2001), to obtain an independent blood test. Smallridge argues that because he was denied the right to consult with his attorney/father after he had been placed under custodial arrest, he was similarly denied the opportunity to make a knowing request for an independent test, to which he was entitled by law, and as a result of the denial, the blood draw should be suppressed.

Although we are cognizant the Florida Supreme Court has held that "law enforcement must render reasonable assistance in helping a DUI arrestee obtain an independent blood test upon request," Unruh v. State, 669 So.2d 242, 243-44 (Fla. 1996), we note that Smallridge did not make such a request. Accepting appellant's *605 argument that he was effectively under arrest, although he was not formally arrested and, in fact, later that night was released and allowed to return to his home, competent, substantial evidence, in our judgment, supports the trial court's findings in its order denying the motion to suppress, reciting that notwithstanding the act of the officers in terminating appellant's telephone conversation with his father, appellant otherwise had the opportunity, had he availed himself of it, of seeking an alternative test. Among other things, the lower court pointed out that appellant had made several telephone calls to his father following the accident and before his cell phone was taken from him, and had access to other phones after his release from custody, yet he never expressed any interest in obtaining an independent test. In fact, as noted in the order, Smallridge, upon his release, passed a hospital located two miles from the crash scene where a test could have been performed.[2]

Smallridge further argues the trial court erred in allowing into evidence blown-up photographs of the decedents which depicted them inside the demolished automobile.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Champagne v. State
269 So. 3d 629 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019)
RENALDO CHAMPAGNE v. STATE OF FLORIDA
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019
Rollins v. State
914 So. 2d 513 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
Owens v. State
912 So. 2d 1250 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
904 So. 2d 601, 2005 WL 1420858, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smallridge-v-state-fladistctapp-2005.