Velazquez v. State

648 So. 2d 302, 1995 WL 3017
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided January 6, 1995·No. 93-1883·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

648 So.2d 302 (1995)

Julian Max VELAZQUEZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 93-1883.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

January 6, 1995.

Raymond L. Goodman, Orlando, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Kristen L. Davenport, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

DIAMANTIS, Judge.

We deny rehearing but withdraw the prior opinion and issue the following in its place.

Julian Velazquez appeals the judgments and sentences in four cases in which he was convicted of multiple sexual offenses involving children. Although Velazquez raises several *303 issues on appeal, only one possesses merit. Specifically, in case number CR 92-6394, we are constrained to reverse Velazquez's convictions for two counts of capital sexual battery upon a person less than twelve years of age because the victim was not less than twelve years of age on the date of the offenses.

The information in case number CR 92-6394 charged Velazquez with two counts of capital sexual battery in that:

JULIAN VELAZQUEZ, a person eighteen (18) years of age or older, on the 5th day of June, 1992, in said County and State, did, in violation of Florida Statute 794.011(2), commit a sexual battery upon [the victim], a person less than twelve (12) years of age, and in furtherance thereof JULIAN VELAZQUEZ did with his mouth have union with the penis of [the victim].

Section 794.011(2) provides that:

A person 18 years of age or older who commits sexual battery upon, or injures the sexual organs of, a person less than 12 years of age in an attempt to commit sexual battery upon such person commits a capital felony, punishable as provided in ss. 775.082 and 921.141... .

§ 794.011(2), Fla. Stat. (1991) (emphasis added).

Velazquez filed a pretrial motion to dismiss both capital sexual battery counts on the ground that the victim was not "a person less than 12 years of age" because the victim's twelfth birthday was June 5, 1992, the same day the sexual batteries occurred. The state filed a traverse asserting that the victim was less than twelve years of age at the time of the offenses because the offenses occurred prior to 3:49 p.m. on June 5, 1992, and the victim was born at 3:49 p.m. on June 5, 1980. At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, the state asserted that the offenses occurred "around noon or one o'clock."[1]

The trial court denied Velazquez's motion to dismiss, concluding that, because the victim's birthday was June 5, 1980, "as long as the alleged conduct occurred on or before June 5, 1992 the alleged criminal activity falls within the ambit of this statute." The trial court erred in so ruling.

Chapter 794 of the Florida Statutes fails to define who is "a person less than 12 years of age" under section 794.011(2); however, section 2.01, Florida Statutes (1991), provides that the general common and statute laws of England in existence on July 4, 1776, remain in force in this state unless inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States or with the acts of the Florida legislature. See In re Forfeiture of 1978 Chevrolet Van, 493 So.2d 433, 436-37 (Fla. 1986). In this case, because of the absence of any statutory law on this point, we must consider the common law in determining the victim's age at the time of the offenses. See Cate v. Oldham, 450 So.2d 224, 225 (Fla. 1984). See also State v. Brown, 443 S.W.2d 805, 807 (Mo. 1969).

In order to avoid disputes, the common-law rule regarding age does not recognize fractions of a day. See In re Harris, 5 Cal. 4th 813, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d 373, 391, 855 P.2d 391, 409 (1993); People v. Anderson, 108 Ill. App.3d 563, 64 Ill.Dec. 136, 142, 439 N.E.2d 65, 71 (1982); Parker v. State, 61 Md. App. 35, 484 A.2d 1020, 1021-22 (1984); State v. Brown, 443 S.W.2d 805, 806 (Mo. 1969); Ellingham v. Morton, 116 A.D.2d 1032, 498 N.Y.S.2d 650, 651 (N.Y. App. Div.), appeal denied, 67 N.Y.2d 607, 502 N.Y.S.2d 1025, 494 N.E.2d 112 (1986); State v. Clark, 84 Ohio App.3d 789, 618 N.E.2d 257, 258 (1993); Commonwealth v. Iafrate, 527 Pa. 497, 594 A.2d 293, 294 (1991).[2] Under the *304 common-law rule a person is deemed to have been born on the first minute of the day of his birth. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 391, 855 P.2d at 409. In accordance with this principle, the common-law rule for determining a person's age is that a person reaches a given age at the earliest moment of the day before the anniversary of his birth. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 390, 855 P.2d at 408; Parker v. State, 484 A.2d at 1022; State v. Brown, 443 S.W.2d at 807; Ellingham v. Morton, 498 N.Y.S.2d at 651; Commonwealth v. Iafrate, 594 A.2d at 294. See generally R.F. Martin, Annotation, Inclusion or Exclusion of the Day of Birth in Computing One's Age, 5 A.L.R.2d 1143 (1949). The underlying rationale for this rule is that a person is in existence on the day of his birth; thus, he has lived one year and one day on the first anniversary of his birth. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 390, 855 P.2d at 408 (citing State v. Alley, 594 S.W.2d 381, 382 (Tenn. 1980)).[3]

While we conclude that under section 2.01 the common law controls in this case, we note that the modern trend is to adopt what has been described as the more commonsense rule that a person attains a certain age on that person's corresponding birthday. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 391-93, 855 P.2d at 409-11; Ellingham v. Morton, 498 N.Y.S.2d at 651; Commonwealth v. Iafrate, 594 A.2d at 295. Like the common-law rule, the birthday rule does not recognize fractions of a day; thus, under the birthday rule a person attains a given age at 12:01 a.m. or at the beginning of the anniversary date of the person's birth. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 391-93, 855 P.2d at 409-11; Ellingham v. Morton, 498 N.Y.S.2d at 651. See also Parker v. State, 484 A.2d at 1022; State v. Clark, 618 N.E.2d at 258.[4] Some state legislatures have preempted the common-law rule by enacting statutes which adopt the birthday rule. See Harris, 21 Cal. Rptr.2d at 390, 855 P.2d at 408.[5]

Here, Velazquez's motion to dismiss should have been granted because, under either the common-law rule or the birthday rule, the victim turned twelve before noon on June 5, 1992, the time the state alleged that the offenses occurred. Under the common-law rule, the victim turned twelve at the earliest moment on June 4, 1992, and under the birthday rule, the victim turned twelve at 12:01 a.m. on June 5, 1992.[6]

*305

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

Velazquez v. State, 648 So. 2d 302, 1995 WL 3017 (Fla. Ct. App. 1995).

648 So. 2d 302 (Velazquez v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Johnson
2016 Ohio 4934 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2016)
In Re Aps
696 S.E.2d 483 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2010)
State v. Yarger
908 N.E.2d 462 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2009)
Coley v. Belleque
231 F. App'x 678 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Marganet v. State
927 So. 2d 52 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)
Mason v. Board of Education
826 A.2d 433 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2003)
Welsh v. State
850 So. 2d 467 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2003)
Welsh v. State
816 So. 2d 175 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Ulysses H.
754 N.E.2d 736 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2001)
Lowman v. Moore
744 So. 2d 1210 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1999)
State v. Stone
677 So. 2d 982 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1996)
Fullerton v. Hospital Corp. of America
660 So. 2d 389 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)