Beckett v. State, 97-2077.

• Decision Date: 07 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-2077.,97-2077.
• Citation: 730 So.2d 809
• Parties: Justin A. BECKETT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

730 So.2d 809

Justin A. BECKETT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 97-2077.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

April 7, 1999.

Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Paul E. Petillo, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

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

TAYLOR, J.

Justin Beckett was charged by information with committing an aggravated assault and aggravated battery upon Ryan Adrian with his car. The trial court entered a judgment of acquittal on the aggravated assault count, but the jury found the defendant guilty of aggravated battery. On appeal, the defendant contends that the court erred by allowing the state to introduce evidence that the defendant's father sprayed the victim with gasoline one week before the incident that led to his criminal charges. Because we find that no prejudicial error was committed in this case, we affirm the judgment of conviction.

The 18-year old victim, Ryan Adrian, was walking across the street on his way to the mall around 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. As he crossed the street, he saw the defendant drive past him and then make a sudden U-turn. Adrian stood on the median and watched in fear as the defendant sped his car towards him while waving what appeared to be a machete out the window. Adrian last recalled seeing the defendant's car jump over the curb before he regained consciousness in the hospital.

At trial, the victim testified that about a week before he was struck by the defendant's car, he confronted the defendant and accused him of threatening the victim's 15-year old sister. The victim told the defendant to stop threatening his sister and warned that if he did not, they would have to fight each other. When the victim started to testify about a later encounter with the defendant's father, defense counsel objected, stating "Your Honor, what his father happened to do on some other occasion has nothing to do with this incident. My client wasn't present. Even if he was present, [it] has nothing to do with this incident."

The state responded that the testimony concerning the defendant's father was inextricably intertwined with events that led up to the charged offenses. The prosecutor explained that there was an ongoing feud between the families of the victim and the defendant. After the victim threatened to fight the defendant for threatening his sister, the defendant's father got involved. The defendant's father pulled out a bottle of gasoline, informed the victim that he was part of the Aryan Nation, and doused the victim with gasoline. Afterwards, arrangements were made for the families to participate in mediation to settle their differences. Shortly before the scheduled conference, however, the defendant battered the victim with his car. The prosecutor assured the court, "I will not try to paint Mr. Beckett in a bad light because of something his father did. It all pieces together. It is inextricably intertwined." The court overruled the defense objection and admitted the testimony concerning the gas-spraying incident.

Defendant contends that the testimony concerning his father's conduct one week before the automobile battery incident was not relevant and highly prejudicial. According to the defendant, the admission of evidence of his father's "other bad acts" caused the jury to unfairly infer criminal conduct on the defendant's part, and, thus, constituted reversible error. The state argues that the probative value of the evidence of the gas spraying incident outweighed any prejudice and was inextricably intertwined with the other evidence necessary for the state to prove its case.

A trial court is given broad discretion when making a determination as to whether to admit or exclude evidence. That decision will not be overturned absent an abuse of discretion. See Traina v. State, 657 So.2d 1227 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995)

. Florida Statutes, section 90.401 (1997), defines relevant evidence as "evidence tending to prove or disprove a material fact." Relevant evidence is generally admissible unless its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, misleading the jury, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. See § 90.403, Fla. Stat. (1997).

Generally, "evidence of wrongdoing on the part of a third party is inadmissible as irrelevant to a given case." Denmark v. State, 646 So.2d 754 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), quoting Jenkins v. State, 533 So.2d 297, 300 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), rev. denied, 542 So.2d 1334 (Fla.1989). See also Armstrong v. State, 377 So.2d 205 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979)

; Hirsch v. State, 279 So.2d 866 (Fla.1973); Kellum v. State, 104 So.2d 99 (Fla. 3d DCA 1958). In Denmark, the second district reversed the convictions of defendants charged with first degree murder upon determining that the trial court erred in allowing the jury to consider evidence of collateral crimes, preceding the victim's death, which were not linked to the defendants. The state's theory of premeditation for the first degree murder charges in Denmark was that the murder was a culmination of a long-standing feud between residents of two different neighborhoods. The defendants, however, were never linked to this alleged animosity. Over defense objection, the state adduced evidence of specific violent criminal acts committed over the course of the week preceding the victim's death and made it a key feature of the trial. The state did not claim that any of the defendants committed these crimes; it sought to establish their awareness of the violence and show the factual context of the neighborhood feud to provide a motive for the defendants to commit murder. The second district reversed and remanded for a new trial, finding that any probative value of the evidence of the collateral crimes not linked to the defendants was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and a tendency to confuse or mislead the jury. The court stated that there was a reasonable possibility that the prejudicial "spill over" effect of this evidence may have caused the jury to infer that, because random acts of violence were a way of life among other residents and members of the defendants' social group, the defendants must be guilty as charged or guilty of some of the prior acts. The appellate court noted that:

It is the well-established law of this state that "[a]s a general rule, evidence of wrongdoing on the part of a third party is inadmissible as irrelevant to a given case." Such evidence "is not relevant to the crime charged and is highly prejudicial by inferring criminal conduct on the part of defendant from criminal conduct of a third party."

Id. at 757 (citations omitted).

Here, unlike in Denmark, where the defendants were never linked to the neighborhood feud, the defendant was tied to the animosity between his...