Horstman v. State, 86-2925
| Decision Date | 05 August 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-2925,86-2925 |
| Citation | 530 So.2d 368,13 Fla. L. Weekly 1845 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1845 Rodney Charles HORSTMAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and John T. Kilcrease Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
The state charged Rodney Horstman with first degree murder. A jury found him guilty of second degree murder, and the trial court sentenced him to seventeen years imprisonment. Horstman challenges the trial court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal, contending that the evidence presented against him was legally insufficient. We agree that the state did not present substantial, competent evidence to support the jury's verdict, and accordingly, we must vacate Horstman's conviction.
At Horstman's trial, the state's evidence revealed that sometime during the early morning hours of Sunday, May 19, 1985, Sandra Peterson was strangled. At 10:55 a.m., a neighborhood boy found Peterson's nude body lying next to a dumpster in an area near a bar within walking distance of the house that she shared with her boyfriend, Earl Jones. A police investigation disclosed that on Friday night, Peterson and Jones had an argument which apparently prompted them to avoid each other for the rest of Friday evening, Saturday, and Saturday night. There was testimony that Jones, allegedly an alcoholic, had passed out in the entrance of one of the bars Peterson visited that night. A friend of Jones corroborated Jones's testimony that he received help getting home and slept in a neighbor's parked car.
Peterson patronized several neighborhood bars on Saturday night, May 18. The bartender at the Naughty Pine saw her come in alone about 10:00 p.m. and engage in conversation with Horstman. The bartender observed Peterson shake her head "no" in response to Horstman and leave the bar.
The bartender at Sam's Tavern testified that Peterson and Horstman came in together between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. After Horstman bought each of them a beer, they had an argument in which Horstman placed a rose in front of Peterson and she returned it to him. Horstman grabbed her arm, and Peterson pulled away and moved several stools down the bar. Horstman stayed where he was and ordered more beer. The bartender believed Horstman was intoxicated and refused to serve him. Peterson left the bar, and Horstman left soon afterward.
George Schearer, his wife, Adele, and Debbie Florence testified that they observed Peterson come into the Wreck Bar about 10:30 Saturday night followed by Horstman, who sat next to her. They talked to each other and to the Schearers. Horstman purchased flowers for Peterson and the female bartender, and they thanked him. Around 12:30 a.m., while Horstman was in the bathroom, Peterson left. When Horstman found Peterson gone, he slammed down his beer mug and departed. Horstman told police that he did not see Peterson again that evening and that he went straight home to the trailer where he lived alone.
An autopsy failed to specify the time of death or whether the body had been moved postmortem. Peterson's head, face, arm, and knee were bruised. There was, however, no trace of sperm or signs of forced sexual intercourse. Death was caused by strangulation. Her blood alcohol level was .110. Tests of the blood found on Peterson and her clothes were inconclusive to link Horstman to the murder because he and Peterson had the same blood type. FBI Agent Michael Malone, an expert in hair and fiber analysis, testified that there were strands of head hair in Peterson's mouth, on her jeans, her shirt, her knee, and in her blouse, brassiere, and panties that were indistinguishable from Horstman's hair. The hair had been forcibly removed. A pubic hair indistinguishable from Horstman's hair was found on Peterson's ankle sock. Other hair, inconsistent with that of Peterson, Horstman, or Jones was also found on the sheet from the morgue.
Further, it was discovered that Peterson's pubic hair was singed. There was testimony that Peterson had a...
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