Cruz v. State, 4D13–1408.

• Decision Date: 20 May 2015
• Docket Number: No. 4D13–1408.,4D13–1408.
• Citation: 189 So.3d 822
• Parties: Anthony CRUZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

189 So.3d 822

Anthony CRUZ, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D13–1408.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

May 20, 2015.

Rehearing Denied June 30, 2015.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Gary Lee Caldwell, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Jeanine Germanowicz, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

TAYLOR

, J.

Anthony Cruz was convicted of manslaughter with a weapon and attempted second degree murder with a weapon. In this appeal from his judgments and sentences, he argues that the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not act in self-defense; (2) permitting the state to read to the jury, in its case-in-chief, his testimony from the Stand Your Ground hearing; (3) allowing the state to use his Stand Your Ground testimony without conducting a Richardson inquiry¹ ; (4) instructing the jury on self-defense; and (5) imposing habitual offender sentences without jury findings of the necessary predicate facts. We affirm on all issues.

Factual Background

Appellant was charged with manslaughter with a weapon and attempted second-degree murder with a weapon. The charges arose from a fight involving several men who worked together and lived with the father of one of the victims, Carlos "Carlitos" Gonzalez, Jr. The fight erupted outside their apartment late one night after they had been drinking throughout the afternoon and evening. Appellant stabbed both Carlitos and Jose "Rubi" Mendez, killing Carlitos and wounding Rubi. The state's key evidence at trial consisted of appellant's statement to police, his testimony at a pre-trial Stand Your Ground hearing, and the testimony of a witness, Miguel Sosa, who observed much of the fight but was not present when the stabbings occurred.²

On the night of the incident, when Sosa saw appellant choking Carlitos, Sosa and Rubi tried to pull appellant off, but he would not let go. Carlitos was on the floor and appellant was on top of him. Sosa then grabbed appellant by the throat and hit him because he would not let Carlitos go. Sosa and Rubi were hitting appellant, and appellant eventually let go of Carlitos.

Sosa testified that appellant later went outside and told him that he was going to kill him. Appellant took out a knife. Sosa ran away and told Carlitos to tell his father, Carlos, Sr., that appellant wanted to kill him. Appellant followed Sosa, who grabbed a rock. Appellant stopped following him and went into the house. The next time Sosa saw Carlitos and Rubi, they had stab wounds

. Sosa did not see them get stabbed.

Carlitos's father, Carlos, Sr., testified that his son came upstairs, looking pale from a stab wound

next to his heart, and said, "Look, Daddy, what Tony [appellant] did to me." Shortly thereafter, Carlitos died of his injury.

Appellant left the scene after he heard someone say "we need an ambulance." A few hours after the stabbings, the police found appellant walking down the street. Appellant later told the police that he left because "[a]ll of them were looking for me to beat me up."

Appellant claimed self-defense, maintaining that he defended himself against a fierce attack by Carlitos, Sosa, and Rubi with their fists, bottles, and other heavy objects. Appellant claimed that Rubi started the fight. Appellant said that the fight was "three to one" and that the three other men smashed his head against a brick wall. Appellant's blood was found on the brick wall, and a CSI officer testified that the blood pattern was an impact pattern.

Most of the facts supporting appellant's self-defense claim were elicited in the state's case-in-chief, when the state introduced appellant's statement to the police and his pre-trial Stand Your Ground testimony. There were portions of appellant's pre-trial statements, however, that were not beneficial to the defense. Appellant gave inconsistent statements regarding key details in the case. He also made incriminating statements that undermined his self-defense claim.

After the state rested its case, the defense called two witnesses who corroborated that three men were beating appellant. But those witnesses did not see the stabbings or how the fight started.

The trial court denied appellant's motion for judgment of acquittal. The jury found appellant guilty as charged on each count, and the trial court imposed concurrent thirty-year habitual offender sentences on those counts. This appeal followed.

Denial of Judgment of Acquittal

On appeal, appellant first argues that the state failed to present competent substantial evidence disproving the theory that he acted in self-defense. The state responds that it produced evidence which contradicted appellant's claim of self-defense and was sufficient to send the case to the jury. We agree with the state and affirm.

A de novo standard of review applies to the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal. Pagan v. State, 830 So.2d 792, 803 (Fla.2002)

. In moving for a judgment of acquittal, a defendant admits the facts in evidence and every conclusion favorable to the state that may be reasonably inferred from the evidence. Turner v. State, 29 So.3d 361, 364 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). A court should grant a motion for judgment of acquittal only if "the evidence is such that no view which the jury may lawfully take of it favorable to the opposite party can be sustained under the law." Lynch v. State, 293 So.2d 44, 45 (Fla.1974). "If, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, a rational trier of fact could find the existence of the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, sufficient evidence exists to sustain a conviction." Pagan, 830 So.2d at 803 (citations omitted).

"While the defendant may have the burden of going forward with evidence of self-defense, the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt never shifts from the State, and this standard broadly includes the requirement that the State prove that the defendant did not act in self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt." Brown v. State, 454 So.2d 596, 598 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984)

.

When the state's evidence is legally insufficient to rebut a prima facie case establishing self-defense, the trial court must enter a judgment of acquittal. See Fowler v. State, 921 So.2d 708, 711–12 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)

(the state's evidence failed to rebut the defendant's testimony that the victim pulled a gun on him to rob him, and that he grabbed the gun and shot the victim in self-defense; no eyewitnesses saw the shooting or the events preceding it, and the defendant's panicked actions after the shooting—including hiding the gun—did not rebut his claim of self-defense); Sneed v. State, 580 So.2d 169, 170–71 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (the state failed to rebut the defendant's testimony that he shot the victim in self-defense during a struggle in which "the victim carried himself as if holding a knife and rushed toward him grabbing the rifle"; the state's case "not only failed to rebut appellant's allegation of self-defense, but corroborated a majority of appellant's testimony"); Fowler v. State, 492 So.2d 1344, 1349–52 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (reversing murder conviction where the defendant's hypothesis that "the shooting was purely accidental and in self-defense" had not been overcome; the defendant testified that he shot the victim with the victim's gun during a struggle that took place after the victim told the defendant he was going to have to "play the role of a woman," and the physical evidence—including the path of the bullet—corroborated the defendant's testimony); Diaz v. State, 387 So.2d 978, 979–80 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980) (reversing manslaughter conviction where the state "presented no evidence to rebut the defendant's direct testimony that he acted in self defense nor was it able to diminish his testimony on cross-examination"; the defendant testified that he drew his weapon and accidentally fired at the victim after the victim threatened to shoot him "while apparently reaching in his pocket for a weapon").

A defendant's inconsistent statements can, however, "constitute grounds upon which a trier of fact may reject the defendant's reasonable hypothesis of innocence." Carranza v. State, 985 So.2d 1199, 1203 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)

. Thus, a motion for judgment of acquittal should be denied where a jury could reasonably infer guilt and reject the defendant's explanation of self-defense, either because the defendant gave false, inconsistent, or incriminating statements, or because a common sense view of the circumstantial evidence would allow the jury to reject the defendant's story as unbelievable. See Romero v. State, 901 So.2d 260, 265–66 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (holding that the State presented sufficient evidence to rebut the defendant's hypothesis that he shot and killed only one of the victims, and that he did so in self-defense after watching that victim shoot and kill the other victim; the defendant admitted that he shot one of the victims and that "he did not have to do so," there were inconsistencies in defendant's versions of events over time, and the defendant left the scene, hid the gun, and lied to the police); Hampton v. State, 549 So.2d 1059, 1060–61 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (holding that "there was competent evidence from which the jury could reasonably infer guilt and reject the appellant's explanation" of how the shooting of his girlfriend occurred, where the defendant claimed that his girlfriend initially pulled out the gun and that it fired in a subsequent struggle, but the defendant gave differing explanations in the course of the investigation, and "also made several statements indicating a lack of remorse, evidencing feelings of hostility toward the victim, and that he expected to be charged with the shooting").

In this case, there was competent evidence from which the jury could reasonably infer guilt and reject ap...