D.C. v. State, No. 90-642
| Citation | 567 So.2d 998 |
| Decision Date | 08 October 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-642 |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly D2493 D.C., a child, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Barbara M. Linthicum, Public Defender, and Glenna Joyce Reeves, Asst. Public Defender, Tallahassee, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Amelia L. Beisner, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.
D.C. has appealed from an adjudication of delinquency based on a petition for delinquency alleging aggravated battery, contrary to Section 784.045, Florida Statutes (1989). We affirm the adjudication of delinquency, not for aggravated battery but for simple battery.
While a resident of the Father Flanagan Boys' Home in Leon County, Florida, D.C. became enraged over a delay in his scheduled counseling session. He began to kick doors and walls, and otherwise cause damage of uncertain value to Boys' Home property. During this episode, D.C. obtained a can of spray deodorant from a storage closet, and when the victim, a counselor at the Home, attempted to subdue him, he sprayed her with the deodorant at close range. The fumes from the spray caused the victim to cough so that she could not catch her breath, and she later underwent treatment at a local emergency room before stabilizing.
A petition for delinquency was filed alleging that D.C. had committed an aggravated battery against the victim. Section 784.045(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1989) provides that a person commits aggravated battery who, in committing a battery, either intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement, or uses a deadly weapon. The petition herein alleged that D.C. committed aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, defined as "a can of Brut 33 men's aerosol spray."
At the hearing on the petition, the defense moved for reduction of the aggravated battery charge to simple battery. The motion was based on the state's alleged failure to show that the manner in which the spray was used made it a deadly weapon. The state countered that a deadly weapon was any weapon used in a way likely to cause great bodily harm. The court agreed and denied the defense motion, finding that "this particular substance was used in a way likely to produce great bodily harm and did produce such harm." The subsequent defense motion for judgment of acquittal was similarly denied, and D.C. was adjudicated delinquent based on the commission of an aggravated battery.
A deadly weapon is 1) any instrument which, when it is used in the ordinary manner contemplated by its design and construction,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rushing v. Sec'y of the Fla. Dep't of Corr.
...bodily harm, or 2) any instrument likely to cause great bodily harm because of the way it is used during a crime." D.C. v. State, 567 So. 2d 998, 1000 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (citation omitted). In the instant case, the victim was unarmed at all times and completely unaware of the stun gun's lo......
- Kio v. State, 91-2744
-
United States v. Rosado
...is likely to cause great bodily harm." Nguyen v. State, 858 So.2d 1259, 1260 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2003) (quoting D.C. v. State, 567 So.2d 998, 1000 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1990)). This definition does not require any specific action by the defendant, except that the defendant must, under the s......
-
C.J.P. v. State, 95-161
...for purposes of the statute only if "likely to cause great bodily harm because of the way it is used during a crime." D.C. v. State, 567 So.2d 998, 1000 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Forchion v. State, 214 So.2d 751, 752 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968) (aggravated assault conviction reversed where defendant hit ......