Trushin v. State

425 So. 2d 1126
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedNovember 4, 1982
Docket59378
StatusPublished
Cited by95 cases

This text of 425 So. 2d 1126 (Trushin v. State) 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
Trushin v. State, 425 So. 2d 1126 (Fla. 1982).

Opinion

425 So.2d 1126 (1982)

Theodore TRUSHIN, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 59378.

Supreme Court of Florida.

November 4, 1982.
Rehearing Denied February 8, 1983.

*1127 Louis M. Jepeway, Jr., of Jepeway & Jepeway and Smith, Black & Peckins, Miami, for petitioner.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Anthony C. Musto, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, for respondent.

McDONALD, Judge.

Trushin petitions for review of a district court decision, reported at 384 So.2d 668 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), which affirmed his conviction of vote buying and construed and passed on the constitutionality of subsection 104.061(2), Florida Statutes (1977).[1] We have jurisdiction[2] and approve the instant decision.

In September 1978 Trushin circulated a letter throughout an apartment complex in Miami Beach in which he promised:

To every resident of the Roney Plaza Apartments who comes to my office to pledge their vote to Judge Frederick N. Barad and Judge Calvin R. Mapp, in the upcoming runoff election, I will prepare a Last Will and Testament for that person without charge.[3]

He was charged by information with both promising something of value with the intent *1128 to buy votes and corruptly influencing voting under subsection 104.061(2).

Trial

The state's first witness in the nonjury trial was a resident of the apartment complex who identified the letter and testified that he received a copy under his door. Next the state introduced into evidence a statement made by Trushin to an assistant state attorney in which he admitted sending the letter.[4] Defense counsel objected to the admission of that statement on the ground that the corpus delicti had not been independently established because the letter had not yet been connected to Trushin.[5] At the close of the state's case Trushin moved for a judgment of acquittal grounded on the fact that the state's evidence failed to connect Trushin sufficiently with the letter, thus failing to prove Trushin's responsibility for the letter. At the close of all the evidence Trushin again moved for judgment of acquittal, charging only "that there has been no evidence to prove defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." The court denied both motions. Then, before the court announced its verdict, the following dialogue occurred:

MR. COHEN [defense counsel]: May it please the Court, I now ask that the state elects to which portion of [104.061(2)] they are referring to.
THE COURT: Mr. Glick?
MR. GLICK [prosecutor]: I suggest respectfully that we do not have to elect either one of those portions. The Court can receive evidence as to all portions and eject the portion which does not go to any portion of paragraph 2 of the statute.
THE COURT: The Court will elect for you.
I find no evidence that the defendant corruptly influenced another to cast his vote. However, I do find that the defendant directly gave or promised something of value, that is, writing a will to another, intending thereby to receive his vote to support candidates Judge Barad and Judge Mapp.

The court then adjudicated Trushin guilty of vote buying. Trushin moved for a new trial at which time he first challenged the constitutionality of subsection 104.061(2). He alleged no specific grounds as the basis for this challenge, and the trial court denied the motion.[6]

District Court Appeal

On appeal to the Third District Court of Appeal Trushin charged that: 1) the term "anything of value" in subsection 104.061(2) is unconstitutionally vague; 2) subsection 104.061(2) is unconstitutionally overbroad; 3) the evidence was insufficient to convict because the state failed to prove that the promisee was a registered voter, that the will was "anything of value," and that Trushin had the requisite criminal intent;[7] and 4) Trushin's statement was improperly introduced at trial without independent proof of the corpus delicti because the state failed to prove the promisee was a registered voter.[8]

At trial Trushin raised none of the four points brought up on appeal. Nonetheless, the district court, in a comprehensive and well-reasoned opinion, decided the first three issues, holding that the subsection is not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad, that proof of a registered voter-promisee and knowledge of the law are not elements of the crime, and that the will in this case is something of "value" for purposes of subsection *1129 104.061(2).[9] The district court certified the case to this Court as "involving issues of great public importance concerning the validity and interpretation of § 104.061(2)." 384 So.2d at 679 n. 28.

Supreme Court Review

On application to this Court for discretionary review Trushin asserts six points:

1) Specifically exempting "food to be consumed at a political rally or meeting," even if provided with the intent to buy votes, from the provisions of the statute, makes the statute irrational, thereby violating the equal protection provisions of the state and federal constitutions;
2) The terms "anything of value," "corruptly," and "influence" are unconstitutionally vague;
3) Section 104.061(2) is unconstitutionally overbroad;
4) The trial court should have granted a judgment of acquittal because the state failed to prove Trushin's knowledge that any promisee was a registered voter, or that he offered "anything of value";
5) Trushin's statement to the assistant state attorney was improperly allowed into evidence because the state failed to prove the corpus delicti by failing to show the letter was sent to a registered voter and by failing to competently introduce the contents of the letter, itself; and
6) Trushin has a right to closing argument which was denied.

In summary, none of the four issues raised in the district court was raised in the trial court. Likewise, this Court is asked to decide six issues, none of which was raised at trial and two of which, the first and the sixth, were not raised in the district court.[10]

The obvious threshold question we must answer is which questions presented we should answer. There is and has been confusion on whether an appellate court should consider the constitutionality of a criminal statute absent a constitutional attack at the trial level. This Court itself has considered the constitutionality of statutes, under the doctrine of fundamental error, in civil cases even though that issue had not been raised at the trial court level. See Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So.2d 134 (Fla. 1970); Town of Monticello v. Finlayson, 156 Fla. 568, 23 So.2d 843 (1945).

On the other hand, in Davis v. State, 383 So.2d 620 (Fla. 1980), and in Silver v. State, 188 So.2d 300 (Fla. 1966), we ruled that the constitutionality of a criminal statute cannot be raised for the first time on appeal. In Whitted v. State, 362 So.2d 668 (Fla. 1978), we disallowed the assertion of one of the alleged grounds of unconstitutionality even though the constitutionality of the statute had been attacked at trial because the appellant had failed to raise that particular ground at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
425 So. 2d 1126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trushin-v-state-fla-1982.