Criner v. State

• Decision Date: 02 May 2014
• Docket Number: No. 5D13–1611.,5D13–1611.
• Citation: 138 So.3d 557
• Parties: Michael Jude CRINER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

138 So.3d 557

Michael Jude CRINER, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 5D13–1611.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

Fifth District.

May 2, 2014.

James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Rose M. Levering, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Rebecca Rock McGuigan, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.

ORFINGER, J.

Michael Jude Criner challenges his conviction for three counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under twelve years of age. We affirm, but write to address Criner's argument that the trial court should have granted his motion to dismiss based on his contention that the State was collaterally estopped from relitigating the allegations of lewd or lascivious molestation, which had been previously litigated in an earlier termination of parental rights (“TPR”) proceeding. In the TPR proceeding, the Department of Children and Families (“DCF”) sought to terminate Criner's parental rights to his daughter, the victim in this case. The TPR court denied the petition, determining that DCF failed to prove sexual abuse by clear and convincing evidence.

The doctrine of collateral estoppel, also known as issue preclusion and estoppel by judgment, “bars relitigation of the same issues between the same parties in connection with a different cause of action.” Topps v. State, 865 So.2d 1253, 1255 (Fla.2004). The doctrine comes into play in a case when the “same parties” attempt to litigate the “same issues” that were already addressed. Id. The doctrine bars “ ‘the parties from litigating in the second suit issues—that is to say points and questions—common to both causes of action and which were actually adjudicated in the prior litigation.’ ” Stogniew v. McQueen, 656 So.2d 917, 919 (Fla.1995) (quoting Gordon v. Gordon, 59 So.2d 40, 44 (Fla.1952)). The determination must be essential to the prior adjudication in order to be given preclusive effect. State v. Strong, 593 So.2d 1065, 1067 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992).

For the doctrine of collateral estoppel to apply to bar relitigation of an issue, five elements must be present: “(1) an identical issue must have been presented in the prior proceedings; (2) the issue must have been a critical and necessary part of the prior determination; (3) there must have been a full and fair opportunity to litigate that issue; (4) the parties in the two proceedings must be identical; and (5) the issues must have been actually litigated.” Cook v. State, 921 So.2d 631, 634 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). Whether collateral estoppel precludes litigation of an issue is reviewed de novo. See, e.g., United Auto. Ins. Co. v. Law Offices of Michael I. Libman, 46 So.3d 1101, 1103 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010); W & W Lumber of Palm Beach, Inc. v. Town & Country Builders, Inc., 35 So.3d 79, 82 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010); Felder v. State, Dep't of Mgmt. Servs., Div. of Ret., 993 So.2d 1031, 1034 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Campbell v. State, 906 So.2d 293, 295 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004).

While no Florida case is directly on point, several cases guide us to agree with the trial court that Criner's criminal prosecution was not barred. In State v. Freund, 626 So.2d 1043 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993), the court addressed whether the denial of a petition for dependency precluded a subsequent criminal charge of child neglect against the same person based on the same misconduct. The Fourth District held that the state was not estopped to proceed criminally, reasoning:

Although the precise issue confronting us has not previously been decided in Florida, courts in other states have concluded that a denial of a petition for dependency does not bar a criminal prosecution even where there is a specific finding in the dependency case that the misconduct did not occur. In State v. Cleveland, 58 Wash.App. 634, 794 P.2d 546, 551 (1990), rev. denied,115 Wash.2d 1029, 803 P.2d 324 (1990), and cert. denied,499 U.S. 948, 111 S.Ct. 1415, 113 L.Ed.2d 468 (1991), the petition for dependency alleged that a stepfather had sexually abused his 8 year-old stepdaughter and that the child's mother was not taking appropriate action to prevent it. The trial court found that the state had not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the alleged sexual abuse had occurred and dismissed the petition. Criminal charges were then brought, the stepfather was convicted, and he argued on appeal that his prosecution was barred by collateral estoppel. In concluding that the criminal prosecution was not barred, the court stated:

Dependency proceedings are often attended with a sense of urgency, are held as promptly as reasonably possible, and the entire focus of the proceeding is the welfare of the child. The focus being more narrow than in a typical felony trial, the State normally does not need, nor does it perform, the extensive preparation typically required for felony trials.

Furthermore, the prosecutor uses many more resources in developing a felony prosecution than those available and used in the typical dependency hearing. Dependency is decided by a judge, while felony trials are usually tried to a jury. In addition, if the State was faced with application of the doctrine of collateral estoppel to findings in dependency proceedings, there could well be a reluctance to conduct dependency proceedings in cases where one or more of the same issues would arise in subsequent criminal prosecutions.

In People v. Gates, 434 Mich. 146, 452 N.W.2d 627, 633 (1990), cert. denied,497 U.S. 1004, 110 S.Ct. 3238, 111 L.Ed.2d 749 (1990), the defendant alleged that collateral estoppel barred a criminal prosecution for sexual misconduct involving his child, where a dependency proceeding based on the same conduct resulted in a finding of no dependency. In concluding that collateral estoppel would not be a bar, the Michigan Supreme Court noted that if the possibility of a finding of no dependency would preclude criminal prosecution,

[t]he prosecutor would face an unfortunate choice that is not in the public interest: whether to proceed on the petition in probate court because of concern for the child, or to delay the probate proceeding because of concern that a verdict of nonjurisdiction would preclude criminal prosecution of the accused.

We are persuaded by public policy considerations that such an election between criminal and child-protective proceedings should not be judicially imposed through the application of collateral estoppel. See Joiner v. State, 500 So.2d 81 (Ala.Crim.App.1986).

Consistent with the above authorities and relevant to the issue are two...