Zile v. State

710 So. 2d 729, 1998 WL 250710
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 20, 1998
Docket95-2252
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 710 So. 2d 729 (Zile 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
Zile v. State, 710 So. 2d 729, 1998 WL 250710 (Fla. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

710 So.2d 729 (1998)

Pauline ZILE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 95-2252.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

May 20, 1998.

*731 Richard G. Bartmon of Law Offices of Bartmon & Bartmon, Boca Raton, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Melynda L. Melear, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

STONE, Chief Judge.

Appellant was convicted of one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse. Except as to one count of child abuse, we affirm. As to count V, we reverse and remand for entry of amended judgment and sentence.

Appellant was the mother of the victim, Christina, and is married to John Zile. The family lived in a small one bedroom apartment with the couple's other two children. On September 16, 1994, John beat Christina so severely that he caused her death. Appellant was present and made no effort to interfere until after Christina lost consciousness.

Following the child's death, Appellant and John stored Christina's body in their closet for several days until John eventually buried the body. Together they purchased a shovel, tarp, and items to bury Christina, and Appellant made a public plea claiming that Christina had been kidnapped. She also pawned Christina's belongings.

Eventually, Appellant agreed to give an immunized statement about what happened. In this statement, she described the circumstances of Christina's death. Subsequent to her statement, after being told that Appellant had "told them everything," John confessed that he battered the victim and covered her face with his hand until she lost *732 consciousness. The evidence shows that Appellant was present during the battery and did not tell him to stop. During the incident, John was yelling at the little girl for defecating in her pants. After the abuse stopped, John was afraid to take Christina to the hospital. He told Appellant that she could call the police, that it was up to her, but Appellant decided against it. John's statement was not used at Appellant's trial.

Counts I and III of the information charged felony murder, with aggravated child abuse as the underlying felony for the September 16th homicide. Count II related to an incident occurring sometime between August 29 and October 1, 1994, when a neighbor heard Appellant slap and curse at Christina. Count V referred to an incident occurring between August 20 and September 15, 1994, in which John struck the victim as punishment while Appellant was in another room.

Appellant filed motions seeking dismissal of the case, suppression of evidence, and disqualification of the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office, alleging that information from her immunized statement had been used to convict and indict her. The trial court held a hearing and ultimately denied Appellant's motions. The trial court determined that the state had not used Appellant's immunized statement against her, and had independent sources for all evidence obtained.

Additionally, Appellant sought a change of venue because of significant pre-trial publicity. At trial, the judge excused approximately 80 of the 141 potential jurors, but denied the motion for change of venue, reasoning that the jury ultimately selected knew little about the case, and that all of the jurors stated that they could be fair and impartial and decide the case based on the evidence presented at trial.

Appellant contends that her fifth amendment rights were violated by the state's use of her immunized statement. See Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972). However, the privilege against self-incrimination does not deprive the state of the authority to compel statements that may be incriminating, as long as the state grants immunity. Id. at 448, 92 S.Ct. at 1658. Section 941.04, Florida Statute provides:

Witnesses; person not excused from testifying or producing evidence in certain prosecutions on ground testimony might incriminate him; use of testimony given or evidence produced:
No person who has been duly served with a subpoena ... shall be excused from attending and testifying ... upon the ground or for the reason that the testimony or evidence, ... required of the person may tend to convict him or her of a crime or to subject him or her to a penalty or forfeiture, but no testimony so given or evidence so produced shall be received against the person upon any criminal investigation or proceeding.

Appellant also asserts that this statute violates Florida's constitution because it provides only use immunity and not transactional immunity.

Use immunity forbids the testimony to be used against the witness in any criminal prosecution of the witness. Transactional immunity would have provided complete immunity from prosecution for the matter concerning which the testimony was elicited. In Kastigar, the United States Supreme Court recognized that immunity from use and derivative use is sufficient to compel testimony over a claim of privilege. Id. at 453, 92 S.Ct. at 1661. The state is not required to offer transactional immunity. Id. The Supreme Court reasoned that:

The privilege has never been construed to mean that one who invokes it cannot subsequently be prosecuted. Its sole concern is to afford protection against being `forced to give testimony leading to the infliction of' penalties ..." Immunity from the use of compelled testimony, as well as evidence derived directly and indirectly therefrom, affords this protection. It prohibits the prosecutorial authorities from using the compelled testimony....
A person accorded this immunity under 18 U.S.C. § 6002, and subsequently prosecuted, is not dependent for the preservation of *733 his rights upon the integrity and good faith of the prosecuting authorities.

Id. at 453, 459, 92 S.Ct. at 1661, 1665 (citations omitted).

However, the Supreme Court did recognize that the government has the burden, faced with an immunity claim, of showing that its evidence is not tainted and comes from a legitimate independent source, adding:

This burden of proof, which we reaffirm as appropriate, is not limited to a negation or taint; rather, it imposes on the prosecution the affirmative duty to prove that the evidence it proposes to use is derived from a legitimate source wholly independent of the compelled testimony.
* * * * * *
This statute, which operates after a witness has given incriminatory testimony, affords the same protection by assuring that the compelled testimony can in no way lead to the infliction of criminal penalties. The statute, like the Fifth Amendment, grants neither pardon nor amnesty. Both the statute and the Fifth Amendment allow the government to prosecute using evidence from legitimate independent sources.

Id. at 460-63, 92 S.Ct. at 1665.

Transactional immunity is a creature of statute, State v. Schroeder, 112 So.2d 257 (Fla.1959), and does not implicate any constitutional provisions since Kastigar held that only use immunity is required. See State v. Williams, 487 So.2d 1092 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); see also DeBock v. State, 512 So.2d 164 (Fla.1987).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
710 So. 2d 729, 1998 WL 250710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zile-v-state-fladistctapp-1998.