Groneau v. State
| Decision Date | 31 July 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 927,927 |
| Parties | Fred Russell GRONEAU, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Charles J. Rich and Frederick P. Tiballi, of Allsworth Doumar & Schuler, and Robert A. Brown, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Fred T. Gallagher, Asst. Atty. Gen., Vero Beach, for appellee.
The appellant (defendant) was charged by information with the crime of attempted breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor, to wit, petty larceny. He was tried before the court without a jury and upon the court finding and adjudging the defendant guilty was sentenced for a term of two years in the state prison.
On appeal the defendant contends that (1) the state failed to prove beyond and to the exclusion of a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the necessary criminal intent and had committed an overt act towards the commission of the crime charged beyond that of mere preparation; (2) that the court erred when it entered its finding of guilt and judgment since the weight and probative force of the evidence and the law was not inconsistent with the innocence of the defendant. A determination of these questions will necessarily entail a consideration of the evidence which was presented to the court.
An examination of the testimony discloses that on February 25, 1966, at approximately 5:00 a.m., a policy officer of the City of Hollywood while on patrol and patrolling through an alley in that city in the vicinity of the 1400 block of North Dixie Highway heard a noise that sounded like a metal object striking the ground. The officer stopped his vehicle and while proceeding to investigate observed a truck parked in the alley. The officer shined his spotlight on the truck and saw a figure (the defendant) under the truck. The officer commanded the defendant to come out from underneath and get up against the wall. A person yelled back, 'I am up against the wall'. Upon hearing this voice the officer assumed that there was another person at that location and called for a police backup unit to help him. After the arrival of the back-up unit the officer walked over to the truck and saw the defendant standing in front of it. A companion of the defendant was against the rear of a building. An investigation of the alley and buildings was conducted and the officer found a screwdriver lying directly in front of the truck the defendant was under. A hammer and another screwdriver were lying near the doorjamb of one of the buildings. Socks were also found in a trash can which was directly underneath a window that was broken. The screen belonging to the broken window was lying on the floor in the building in question and a spring from the window was missing. The officer inquired as to the ownership of the tools and the socks. The companion of the defendant admitted ownership and the intention of using the socks on his hands. Upon further inquiry and questioning by the officer the defendant in response to a question of what he was doing in the alley at that time of the morning replied that he and his companion had been out with some girls and were hiding from some persons that were supposedly chasing them.
At the trial the defendant took the stand and testified in his own behalf. He denied making the above statement and indicated it was his companion who made it. The defendant further testified that he was in the restaurant business with his mother, and on the morning of February 25, 1966, he did not close the business until around 2:30 a.m., whereupon he, his girl friend and his companion left to go to his boat to pump out the water that had accumulated from the rain which occurred that day. They were there approximately twenty or thirty minutes and while the water was being pumped out the defendant consumed a few beers and he and his companion engaged in a conversation, the substance of which was about a girl the companion had met the preceding day. It appears after the water was pumped out the three returned to the restaurant where the girl friend could obtain her car and proceed home. It being at an early hour, approximately three or three-thirty in the morning, the defendant followed the girl home who lived at the edge of Hollywood. Upon leaving the girl's home the defendant and his companion then proceeded to find the home of the girl the companion had met during the preceding day. In their endeavor to find the girl they got lost and subsequently stopped at a bar, consumed a few more beers, received instructions and proceeded on their way until they located the house. They then parked the car on the opposite side of the street a house or two away, stating the reason for this was that the hour was late and the neighbors would probably be mad at the girl for someone coming around at that late hour. After the car was parked the companion got out of the automobile and proceeded down the street and into the alleyway. Several minutes elapsed and the defendant stated he then got out of his car and started looking for his companion to tell him that he wanted to leave because of the late hour. Defendant further stated that as he walked into the alley and got near the back of the building he saw his companion standing next to the building as if he was using the bathroom, and the next thing he knew a light flashed at which time he got under a truck.
The owner of the building in question testified that he inspected the building every day at 5:00 p.m. when he left work and on February 24, 1966, at 5:00 p.m., the day prior to the breaking, everything was in order.
The initial question presented on appeal by the defendant is whether he had the necessary criminal intent and had committed an overt act of the nature requisite to legally constitute the offense of an attempted breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor, to wit, petty larceny.
The attempt to commit a crime involves the idea of an incompleted act as distinguished from the completed act necessary for the crime. In the case of Gustine v. State, 1923, 86 Fla. 24, 26, 97 So. 207, 208, the Supreme Court of Florida furnished a definition and general guiding principles necessary to constitute an attempt to commit a crime:
In applying the above principles where the crime remains unfinished and the defendant is charged with the attempt, two elements are essential: (1) a specific intent to commit the crime; and (2) an overt ineffectual act done towards it commission.
We will first deal with the element of a specific intent to commit the crime.
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