Thomas Daugherty v. State of Florida

211 So. 3d 29, 42 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1, 2017 Fla. LEXIS 106
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 19, 2017
DocketSC14-860
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 211 So. 3d 29 (Thomas Daugherty v. State of Florida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas Daugherty v. State of Florida, 211 So. 3d 29, 42 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1, 2017 Fla. LEXIS 106 (Fla. 2017).

Opinions

LABARGA, C.J.

Thomas Daugherty seeks review of the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Daugherty v. State, 96 So.3d 1076 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012). Daugherty cited as authority the district court decisions in Haygood v. State, 54 So.3d 1035 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011), rev. granted, 61 So.3d 410 (Fla. 2011) (table), and Williams v. State, 40 So.3d 72 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010), rev. granted, 64 So.3d 1262 (Fla. 2011) (table), both of which were reversed by this Court.1 We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. Upon review, we quash the decision of the district court and hold that where a defendant is convicted of second-degree murder after the jury is erroneously instructed on the lesser included offense of manslaughter by act, the one step removed analysis to determine fundamental error is not based on the order of the offenses on the verdict form. Rather, because manslaughter as a matter of degree is a next lesser offense of second-degree murder, giving an erroneous instruction on manslaughter by act constitutes fundamental error even if manslaughter is not listed immediately below second-degree murder on the verdict form. In this case, the error caused by a faulty instruction on manslaughter by act was not cured by the jury’s consideration of other offenses that were also one step removed. Thus, we remand this case with instructions that Daugherty be granted a new trial for the homicide of Norris Gaynor.

Additionally, because the jury convicted Daugherty of attempted second-degree murder after being erroneously instructed on attempted voluntary manslaughter, we remand this case with instructions that Daugherty be granted a new trial for the attempted homicides of Jacques Pierre and Raymond Perez.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Daugherty was convicted of one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder. These convictions stemmed from a series of three separate events during the early morning hours of January 12, 2006, when Daugherty and two codefendants beat three homeless men in Fort Lauderdale. Victim Norris Gaynor died from his injuries hours after the attack. Victims Jacques Pierre and Raymond Perez survived their injuries. Daugherty was seventeen years old at the time of the crimes.

At trial, multiple witnesses, including co-defendant William “Billy” Ammons, testified that Daugherty was present during the attacks on each victim. Ammons testified that after smoking marijuana and drinking at his home during the early morning hours of January 12, 2006, he, Daugherty, Brian Hooks, and Joey Griffith decided to ride to the beach. Ammons was the driver. While in the vicinity of Florida Atlantic University, either Daugherty or Hooks suggested that they “mess with” a man they saw sitting on a bench. All agreed, and Ammons parked his vehicle. [33]*33Daugherty and Hooks took baseball bats with them and approached the man (Jacques Pierre). Daugherty and Hooks swung their bats at Pierre. Ammons testified that Daugherty’s swing missed Pierre, while Hooks hit Pierre in the shoulder. Immediately afterwards, Ammons, Daugherty and the others ran back to Ammons’ vehicle. The attack on Pierre was captured on surveillance video.

The group returned to Ammons’ home and began smoldng more marijuana and drinking. Each agreed to go out again and find another victim. While en route to another location, they rode past the location where they attacked Pierre and saw yellow crime tape. Ammons parked near the local performing arts center, and Hooks and Daugherty went in search of another person to attack. The group approached a man (Norris Gaynor) who was laying on a bench. Daugherty hit Gaynor in the head with a baseball bat while Ammons, who was armed with a paintball gun, fired it multiple times. Daugherty and Hooks ran away, but they reapproached Gaynor after seeing him try to get up from the bench. Hooks hit Gaynor with a rake and Daugherty again hit Gaynor with the bat.

Ammons .and Griffith left the area without Daugherty and Hooks, but later met up with them. They- all returned to Ammons’ home, and Griffith eventually departed from the others. Ammons, Daugherty, and Hooks continued to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, after which they left Ammons’ home in search of a third person to attack. Hooks, who was driving this time, parked his vehicle and retrieved a golf club and a play sword -from inside the vehicle. Hooks gave Ammons the sword. Daugherty was armed with a baseball bat. The three started walking toward one man with the intent to attack him. However, they were distracted by another man, Raymond Perez, who was laying on the ground under a blanket. The three ran toward Perez. Ammons began hitting him with the sword, and Daugherty hit him with the bat. Perez started yelling, and the three ran away -and returned to ■ Ammons’ home.

Pierre and Perez suffered serious injuries but survived. Gaynor died from blunt force trauma several hours after the attack, despite being treated in an emergency room. Gaynor suffered five cracked ribs,’ as well as skull and facial ’fractures, internal bleeding, swelling, and cuts and bruises. His eyes and lips were swollen, his forehead was cut and bruised, and his nose was broken. The part of his brain beneath the fractured skull area was crushed and cut in the front. Gaynor’s face was also extensively fractured above his eyes. '

Daugherty and Hooks were both charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree. murder. The .two defendants were tried together. Ammons pled guilty to third-degree murder and testified at the joint trial. In addition to an instruction on the charged offense of first-degree murder, Daugherty’s jury also received instructions on the lesser included, offenses of second-degree murder, third-degree felony murder, manslaughter, and aggravated battery, respectively.2 The man[34]*34slaughter instruction contained not only the required instruction on manslaughter by act, but also a permissive instruction on manslaughter by culpable negligence. The instruction on manslaughter by act was consistent with the instruction later deemed fundamentally erroneous in this Court’s decision in State v. Montgomery, 39 So.3d 252 (Fla. 2010).

On appeal, Daugherty challenged his convictions. With respect to his conviction for second-degree murder, Daugherty argued that the faulty instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter by act constituted fundamental error. The parties also disputed whether the jury’s consideration of manslaughter by culpable negligence remedied the fundamental error caused by the manslaughter by act instruction.

The district court declined to conduct a fundamental error analysis. Instead, the court concluded that a harmless -error analysis applied because the lesser included offense of third-degree felony murder was placed on the verdict form between second-degree murder and manslaughter. According to the district court, as a result of the layout of the verdict form, the offense of manslaughter was two steps removed from the second-degree murder offense of which Daugherty was convicted. The court explained:

Even without considering that the jury received the manslaughter by culpable negligence instruction, we find that there is an independent reason why giving the manslaughter instruction, as a lesser included offense of the murder charge, was not fundamental error in this case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
211 So. 3d 29, 42 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1, 2017 Fla. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-daugherty-v-state-of-florida-fla-2017.