State v. Alonso

345 So. 2d 740, 87 A.L.R. 3d 1240
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 29, 1977
Docket76-763, 76-1649
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 345 So. 2d 740 (State v. Alonso) 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
State v. Alonso, 345 So. 2d 740, 87 A.L.R. 3d 1240 (Fla. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

345 So.2d 740 (1977)

The STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Manuel Francisco ALONSO, a/k/a Manuel Alonzo, Appellee.
The STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Luis Bulas BARQUET et al., Appellees.

Nos. 76-763, 76-1649.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

March 29, 1977.
Rehearing Denied May 4, 1977.

Richard E. Gerstein, State's Atty., and Alan E. Krueger and George Volsky, Asst. State's Attys., for appellant.

Bierman, Sonnett, Beiley, Shohat & Osman, Black & Denaro, Miami, for appellees.

Before BARKDULL, HAVERFIELD and HUBBART, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Both of these appeals ultimately question the correctness of the orders of two trial judges, in effect holding that in order to be convicted of the crime of involuntary sexual battery pursuant to Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975) it is necessary that a defendant be charged with intent to attain sexual gratification and, necessarily, to be convicted thereof evidence would have to be introduced supporting such a charge.

In Case No. 76-763, the State of Florida appeals from an order dismissing Count I of the Information charging the defendant, Alonso, with the commission of sexual battery *741 in violation of Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975). In Case No. 76-1649, the State appeals from an order dismissing Counts I through IV of the Information against Barquet and West, charging them with sexual battery.

In Count I of the Information,[1] Alonso was charged with having committed sexual battery in violation of Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975), in that Alonso falsely held himself out to be a duly licensed physician and performed a procedure to terminate the pregnancy of a fourteen-year-old girl, resulting in serious personal injury to her, for a fee of $100.00 or more. The State alleged that the object used to accomplish vaginal penetration was a surgical instrument; that the victim was over the age of eleven years; that Alonso used actual physical force, likely to cause serious personal injury; and that Alonso, without the victim's intelligent knowing and voluntary consent, administered to the victim a narcotic anesthetic and other intoxicating substance which physically and mentally incapacitated the victim. Upon the defendant's motion to dismiss, the court entered an order dismissing Count I on the ground that the Information failed to state an offense of sexual battery under Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975).

In Case No. 76-1649, the State charged[2] Barquet with four counts of sexual battery, and charged West with aiding and abetting Barquet in the commission of each sexual battery. It was alleged that Barquet penetrated the vagina of the victim named; that he did so with a surgical instrument, and that he did so without the intelligent knowing and voluntary consent of the victim. The trial judge in this cause indicated that because the Information charged in the words of the statute, he was going to hold it charged a crime. However, by stipulation of counsel, the motion was treated as a sworn motion to dismiss with a stipulated set of facts, so that the trial court could rule on the law as it applied to the undisputed facts of the case. On that basis, the court withdrew its prior ruling.

On August 6, 1976, the trial court entered a written order dismissing each of the four counts. The court ruled that: (1) the sexual battery statute requires a showing that some degree of sexual gratification must attend the act of vaginal penetration; (2) the charge does not lie where the offense is perpetrated through fraud in the inducement; and (3) the statute is not applicable to acts of penetration perpetrated by unlicensed persons falsely holding themselves out as duly licensed medical doctors, because the statute exempts acts done for bond fide medical purposes.

The only ground we are interested in, because of our ultimate holding in this opinion, is ground 1 of the judge's order. We affirm the actions of the trial judges in the entry of the orders here under review. Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975) was enacted in 1974 by the Legislature, to replace Florida's previous rape statutes. At common law, there was no rape unless unlawful intercourse was engaged in without the woman's consent. R. Perkins, Criminal Law, 152 (2nd ed. 1969). Rape being a felony, it was a crime malum in se, requiring the specific intent on the part of an accused to penetrate the vaginal opening with his sexual organ.

Florida's former rape statute, Section 794.01, Florida Statutes (1973), though derogating the common law, did not eliminate the requirement of a specific intent to penetrate the oral, anal, or vaginal orifices with the penis. The Supreme Court of Florida, in an opinion holding constitutional the application of this statute to nonconsensual anal intercourse with a male, cited the following definitive language with approval:

"`Our research reveals that sodomy has been held to include forcible carnal knowledge of the victim. * * * Carnal knowledge includes sexual intercourse, *742 but that is not all that carnal knowledge includes. Sodomy may not be committed without experiencing carnal knowledge of the victim. * * * The word "carnal" is derived from the Latin word meaning flesh. The Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines it variously as fleshly; sensual; related to the body as the manifestation of man's lower nature; implies connection with flesh; implies habitual indulgence in sensations and desires having a physical origin. The word pertains to the body, its passions and its appetites. Carnal pertains to the body and includes carnal knowledge of the body of another person by either natural or unnatural copulation. * * * Carnal knowledge includes more than sexual intercourse. It extends to the gratification of animal appetites or lusts upon the body of another. * * * It means bodily connections. * * *
* * * * * *
"`In our view, the body and mind of a victim of a forcible sexual assault is no less outraged because the penetration by the assailant occurred in the anal orifice — as in the instant case — of in the oral orifice — * * * — rather than in the vaginal orifice. In either case, it is a gross invasion of the privacy of one's body which cannot be tolerated by a civilized society.
"`* * * Accordingly, we hold that any forcible penetration by a man's sexual organ into any bodily orifice of another against the latter's will constitutes forcible carnal knowledge of the victim and upon conviction thereof is punishable under Section 794.01, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
"`Moreover, we hold that males are entitled to the same protection from degrading ravishment and sexual assaults, regardless of the orifice involved, as are females. It is no longer consonant with constitutional principles of equal protection to continue a criminal sanction against sexual assaults on females and not provide the same criminal sanction where such assaults are made on males.'" [emphasis added] Washington v. State, 302 So.2d 401, (Fla. 1974), quoting Brinson v. State, 278 So.2d 317 (Fla. 1st D.C.A. 1973).

Although the rape statute has been replaced with the sexual battery law, this quoted language elucidates the policies underpinning Section 794.011, Florida Statutes (1975). The Involuntary Sexual Battery Law is the "criminal sanction against sexual assaults". It differs from the former rape statute only insofar as it protects all aspects of sexual privacy.

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Ago
Florida Attorney General Reports, 1978

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Bluebook (online)
345 So. 2d 740, 87 A.L.R. 3d 1240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-alonso-fladistctapp-1977.