Jaimes v. State

• Court: Florida Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: QUINCE
• Citation: Jaimes v. State, 51 So.3d 445 (Fla. 2010)
• Decision Date: 09 December 2010
• Docket Number: No. SC09-1694.,SC09-1694.
• Parties: Aniceto JAIMES, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.

51 So.3d 445

Aniceto JAIMES, Petitioner,

v.STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. SC09-1694.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Dec. 9, 2010.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Bruce P. Taylor, Assistant Public Defender, Tenth Judicial Circuit, Bartow, FL, for Petitioner.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, FL, Robert J. Krauss, Bureau Chief, and Tonja Rene Vickers, Assistant Attorneys General, Tampa, FL, for Respondent.

QUINCE, J.

We have for review the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal in Jaimes v. State, 19 So.3d 347 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009). Aniceto Jaimes challenges his conviction for aggravated battery by causing great bodily harm on the grounds that the "great bodily harm" version of aggravated battery, although contained in the jury instructions, was not charged in the information that was filed against him by the State. Below, the Second District held that because Jaimes's attorney failed to object to the jury instructions at trial, the error was not preserved for appellate review. Citing this Court's decision in State v. Weaver, 957 So.2d 586 (Fla.2007), the district court further concluded that the error was not fundamental to Jaimes's conviction.

We have jurisdiction based on a misapplication of our decision in Weaver. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.; see also Wallace v. Dean, 3 So.3d 1035, 1040 (Fla.2009) (identifying misapplication of decisions as a basis for express and direct conflict jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(3)). As explained more fully below, the rule we announced in Weaver does not apply when a defendant has been specifically convicted of an uncharged offense. In this case, where the trial court's instruction resulted in the defendant's conviction for a crime that was never charged, fundamental error occurred. Accordingly, we quash that portion of the decision of the Second Districtthat is inconsistent with this opinion and remand to the district court with directions that the district court in turn remand to the trial court with instructions to enter a verdict for the lesser included offense of simple battery.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On the evening of July 9, 2004, Jaimes and three friends entered Judy's Place, a bar-restaurant located in Clewiston, Florida. An altercation began between Jaimes's group and several patrons of the bar, and Jaimes and his friends were asked to leave by the owner. John Hornsby, a musician who was performing in the bar that evening, testified at trial that a larger barroom brawl began when Jaimes punched him in the head. When the brawl subsided several minutes later, Jaimes and his friends exited the bar. Once outside, Jaimes allegedly struck victims Richard Miller and Michael Proctor with a wooden club. Miller and Proctor were also beaten with sticks wielded by Jaimes and his friends. Karen Lamb, Miller's fiancée, watched the confrontation from the front seat of Miller's vehicle. Jaimes and his friends fled in a pickup truck, but were apprehended by police shortly thereafter. Miller and Proctor were taken to the emergency room and treated for their injuries.

Following his arrest, Jaimes was charged by information with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of simple battery, each against a different victim. Under Florida law, an aggravated battery may be committed either by causing great bodily harm to the victim in the course of committing a battery, or by committing a battery through the use of a deadly weapon. See § 784.045(1)(a) 1.-2., Fla. Stat. (2004). At trial, although Jaimes was only charged with the deadly weapon form of the offense, the jury was erroneously instructed that it could also find Jaimes guilty if it determined that he had caused great bodily harm to the victims. No objection was made to this instruction. Further, the jury was given a verdict form which allowed it to specifically choose between the two forms of aggravated battery. After deliberation, the jury found Jaimes guilty of simple battery against John Hornsby, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon against Michael Proctor, and aggravated battery by causing great bodily harm against Richard Miller. Jaimes was sentenced to concurrent terms of twenty-five years in prison for each count of aggravated battery, and 364 days in prison for the count of simple battery.

Jaimes appealed his convictions and sentences to the Second District, raising two claims. In his first claim, Jaimes argued that it was error to convict him of aggravated battery by causing great bodily harm when the information did not charge him with that form of the offense. See Jaimes, 19 So.3d at 348. Denying relief, the district court's opinion stated as follows:

Although we recognize that it was error to convict Mr. Jaimes of aggravated battery by causing great bodily harm on Mr. Miller when that crime was not charged in the information, we affirm because defense counsel failed to preserve the issue for review on appeal. Defense counsel made no objection to the jury instructions or verdict form, and we conclude such error is not fundamental in Mr. Jaimes's circumstances. See State v. Weaver, 957 So.2d 586 (Fla.2007).

Jaimes, 19 So.3d at 348.

Jaimes sought review in this Court, alleging that the decision of the Second District is in conflict with this Court's decisionin Weaver.¹ We granted review, Jaimes v. State, 29 So.3d 291 (Fla.2009), and now quash the portion of the district court's decision that affirms Jaimes's conviction for aggravated battery by causing great bodily harm.

ANALYSIS

We begin our analysis with an overview of the law concerning the preservation of a jury instruction error. As a general matter, instructions to a jury are subject to the contemporaneous objection rule. Pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.390(d), "No party may raise on appeal the giving or failure to give an instruction unless the party objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which the party objects and the grounds of the objection." Absent such an objection at trial, an unpreserved error may be reviewed on appeal only if it rises to the level of fundamental error. See Reed v. State, 837 So.2d 366, 370 (Fla.2002); see also Ray v. State, 403 So.2d 956, 960 (Fla.1981) ( "The main benefit to a defendant having a procedural defect declared fundamental error is that such error can be considered on appeal even though not objected to in the lower court."). Here, because no objection was made to the court's erroneous instruction at trial, the error must qualify as "fundamental" in order to be considered on appeal.

In defining the scope of the fundamental error doctrine, we have explained that a fundamental error is one that "goes to the foundation of the case or goes to the merits of the cause of action." Sanford v. Rubin, 237 So.2d 134, 137 (Fla.1970). "To justify not imposing the contemporaneous objection rule, 'the error must reach down into the validity of the trial itself to the extent that a verdict of guilty could not have been obtained without the assistance of the alleged error.' " State v. Delva, 575 So.2d 643, 644-45 (Fla.1991) (quoting Brown v. State, 124 So.2d 481, 484 (Fla.1960)). In other words, the doctrine of fundamental error applies when an error has affected the proceedings to such an extent it equates to a violation of the defendant's right to due process of law. See F.B. v. State, 852 So.2d 226, 229 (Fla.2003); see also Ray, 403 So.2d at 960 ("[F]or error to be so fundamental that it may be urged on appeal, though not properly presented below, the error must amount to a denial of due process.").²

It is a fundamental principle of due process that a defendant may not be convicted of a crime that has not been charged by the state. See Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 96, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093 (1940) ( "Conviction upon a charge not made would be sheer denial of due process."); Price v. State, 995 So.2d 401, 404 (Fla.2008) ("There is a denial of due process when there is a conviction on a charge not made in the information or indictment."); see also Cole v. Arkansas, 333 U.S. 196, 201, 68 S.Ct. 514, 92 L.Ed. 644 (1948) ("It is as much a violation of due process to send an accused to prison following conviction of a charge on which he was never tried as it would be to convict him upon a charge that was never made."). Therefore, an error that directly results in such a conviction is by definition fundamental.³

In the present case, there is no question that the defendant was convicted of an offense that was never charged. The information charged Jaimes with committing a battery against Richard Miller, and that he did so by using a deadly weapon. See § 784.045(1)(a) 2. However, the jury was erroneously instructed that it could convict Jaimes of aggravated battery if it determined that, in the course of committing a battery, Jaimes had caused Miller great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement. See § 784.045(1)(a) 1. The jury then convicted Jaimes based specifically on the fact that he had caused the victim great bodily harm, despite the fact that the extent of the victim's injuries was never an element of the offense as it was charged in the information. Thus, Jaimes was convicted of a form of aggravated battery which requires an element not contained in the charging document, and his right to due process was therefore violated. The guilty verdict in this case clearly "could not have been obtained without the assistance of the alleged error." Delva, 575 So.2d at 645 (quoting Brown, 124 So.2d at 484). Accordingly, we find that the instruction in this case was fundamental error, and the fact that Jaimes's counsel failed to object at trial will not bar its consideration and correction on appeal.

In denying relief on this claim, the district court relied on this Court's decision in Weaver, 957 So.2d 586, which quashed the prior holding of the Second District in Weaver v....