Hall v. State

• Decision Date: 14 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2D01-3082.,2D01-3082.
• Citation: 951 So.2d 91
• Parties: Erik Forrest HALL, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

951 So.2d 91

Erik Forrest HALL, Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 2D01-3082.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

March 14, 2007.

Joseph Beeler and H. Eugene Lindsey of Ferrell Schultz Carter & Fertel, P.A., Miami, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Diana K. Bock and C. Suzanne Bechard, Assistant Attorneys General, Tampa, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

EN BANC

STRINGER, Judge.

Erik Forrest Hall seeks review of his judgment and sentence for manslaughter, and the State has cross-appealed a ruling on a question of law. This case is another tragic instance of manslaughter by single punch to the head. Because the evidence supports the jury's verdict, we affirm Hall's conviction and sentence. Our affirmance renders the State's cross-appeal moot.

The parties dispute many of the facts regarding the events of the evening of December 27, 1999. The undisputed facts show that Hall and his family were vacationing in Fort Myers Beach from Michigan. The victim, Christopher Pobanz, was vacationing there with some friends from Illinois. Hall was thirty years old at the time; Pobanz was twenty-four. Both men had large builds: Hall stood approximately six feet six inches tall and weighed about 280 pounds, and Pobanz stood approximately six feet four inches tall and weighed about 200 pounds. Both men had been drinking.

Just prior to the encounter, Hall was standing on the deck of the Beached Whale, a restaurant in Fort Myers Beach. Pobanz and two of his friends were walking across the street when Pobanz threw a large rock toward the deck of the Beached Whale. The rock struck an innocent bystander in the back, causing her to fall to the ground. Hall did not witness the incident, but saw the bystander on the floor of the deck. The bystander, who did not know Hall personally, told Hall that someone had thrown a rock at her. Hall asked three men who were approaching the Beached Whale if they threw the rock, and the men pointed across the street to identify Pobanz as the perpetrator. Hall, who did not know Pobanz, yelled at Pobanz and his friends to stop. Pobanz and his friends turned and ran. Hall gave chase with his brother-in-law, another largely built man, close behind.

Hall caught up with Pobanz in the parking lot of a nearby beachfront resort, the Lani Kai. At this point, the facts become disputed. A sheriff's deputy testified that, while he was on foot patrol, he saw Hall and his brother-in-law running down the street toward the Lani Kai parking lot. He heard people at the Beached Whale yelling that there was going to be a fight. The deputy ran after the two men, shouting "Police. Stop running. I'll handle this." The deputy was about fifteen to twenty feet behind Hall. When he rounded a corner to turn into the Lani Kai parking lot, the deputy saw Pobanz talking with the security guard of the Lani Kai. Hall, his brother-in-law, and some other people were "milling about." Pobanz was facing the security guard and gesturing in the other direction with his palm open. Hall "reared up" and struck Pobanz in the head. When he saw Hall "rearing up," the deputy said, "Stop. Police." Pobanz did not appear to see the blow coming.

The security guard of the Lani Kai testified that he intercepted Hall and his brother-in-law as they entered the Lani Kai parking lot. The men told the security guard that they were chasing someone who had thrown an object at someone else. According to the security guard, one or both of the men said they were going to "kill" the person who had thrown the rock. The security guard testified that he told Hall and his brother-in-law that he would call the sheriff's department to handle the matter. Pobanz then approached the security guard, and the security guard asked Pobanz if he was staying at the Lani Kai. As Pobanz gestured to a nearby hotel in response, Hall struck Pobanz with a single blow to the head. The security guard testified that Pobanz did not see the blow coming because he was looking in the opposite direction when it landed.

Hall and his brother-in-law denied speaking with the security guard. Hall said that a man tried to grab his arm as he ran onto the Lani Kai property, but he kept running. Neither man said that he was aware of the sheriff's deputy until after the blow was thrown. Hall testified that he told the deputy, "I wish I would have seen you and let you handle it." Both Hall and his brother-in-law testified that, as Hall approached, Pobanz raised his hands to strike Hall.

It is undisputed that Hall punched Pobanz one time in the jaw area and Pobanz dropped to the ground unconscious. Not one word had been exchanged between the two men. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Hall immediately backed off. Hall told officers at the scene that he regretted punching Pobanz and said he hoped Pobanz would be okay.

Unfortunately, the single punch had caused Pobanz's head to hyperextend or flex, severing a vertebral artery and causing a fatal brain hemorrhage. This is a very unusual occurrence that resulted more from the placement of the blow than the amount of force used. Even though an ambulance arrived quickly to render aid, Pobanz never regained consciousness. He was placed on life support upon his arrival at the hospital in the early morning hours of December 28 and pronounced dead the next day.

The State charged Hall with manslaughter by act, procurement, or culpable negligence. The jury was charged on both manslaughter by act and manslaughter by culpable negligence, and the jury found Hall guilty "as charged" on a general verdict form. The court sentenced Hall to 9.25 years' incarceration, which was the lowest permissible prison sentence for the second-degree felony even though Hall had no prior record. The lowest permissible sentence was significantly increased due to the mandatory imposition of victim injury points on Hall's Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet.

We find no merit in Hall's arguments on appeal and affirm his conviction and sentence. We write only to clarify what we believe is the status of the law as it pertains to the applicability of the crime of manslaughter by act to intentional acts that result in unintentional deaths. To do so, we elect to discuss only the arguments Hall raised on appeal pertaining to his entitlement to a judgment of acquittal.

Hall's first argument on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because Hall's actions constituted excusable homicide as a matter of law. This court will affirm the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal if the verdict is supported by competent, substantial evidence. Fitzpatrick v. State, 900 So.2d 495, 507 (Fla. 2005). "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." Id. A trial court should not grant a judgment of acquittal "`unless 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.'" Id. (quoting Lynch v. State, 293 So.2d 44, 45 (Fla. 1974)).

Section 782.03, Florida Statutes (1999), provides:

Homicide is excusable when committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act by lawful means with usual ordinary caution, and without any unlawful intent, or by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or upon a sudden combat, without any dangerous weapon being used and not done in a cruel or unusual manner.

Hall argues that he punched Pobanz "in the heat of passion" and "upon a sudden combat." However, this argument has been rejected in analogous single-punch-to-the-head cases. See Acosta v. State, 884 So.2d 112 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 891 So.2d 549 (Fla.2004); J.J.W. v. State, 892 So.2d 1189 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005); Weir v. State, 777 So.2d 1073 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001).

The facts of Acosta are closest to those here. In Acosta, the defendant was a high school student who killed the victim with a single blow to the head as the first punch in an after-school fight. 884 So.2d at 113. There had been tension between the two boys after the defendant made fun of the victim for doing something embarrassing at a party several weeks earlier. On the day of the fight, the defendant and the victim were in separate cars, each with a group of friends, leaving the school parking lot. There was a challenge to fight, and the two carloads of students met in a grocery store parking lot for the event.

At the parking lot, a fight broke out between a different set of people. While that fight was ongoing, the victim was yelling at yet another boy. At some point, the defendant threw a single punch to the victim's face, and the victim crumpled to the ground. Id. The victim had been distracted at the moment and was not prepared to defend himself. Id. The defendant continued to hit the victim in the face while he was on the ground and eventually stopped the beating on his own. Id. at 113-14.

The medical examiner testified that the victim died from the single punch to his face. Id. at 114. A jury convicted the defendant of manslaughter by act or culpable negligence. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because the defendant's actions constituted excusable homicide due to sudden combat. This court rejected this argument and affirmed the conviction. Id. at 115.

In doing so, this court reasoned that the defendant "started and finished the fight by forcefully hitting [the victim] in the face." Id. The court explained that the jury could have concluded that the defendant hit the victim when the victim was "totally unprepared to defend himself." Id.

As in Acosta, evidence that Hall started and finished...