Manis v. State, 86-2697
| Decision Date | 05 August 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-2697,86-2697 |
| Citation | 528 So.2d 1342,13 Fla. L. Weekly 1855 |
| Parties | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1855 Mack MANIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, Bartow, and Brad Permar, Asst. Public Defender, Clearwater, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Davis G. Anderson, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
Appellant appeals his judgments and sentences for two counts of second degree murder. Appellant was driving his motor vehicle when it struck another vehicle and killed the two occupants.
Appellant argues that second degree murder is an improper charge for vehicular homicide. Appellant's contention has been rejected in State v. Gordon, 478 So.2d 1063 (Fla.1985). We, therefore, affirm appellant's convictions for second degree murder.
Appellant also contends that the trial judge erred in departing from the recommended guideline sentence. We disagree.
The trial judge gave the following written reasons for departure:
1. Defendant is a danger to the community in that he has exhibited a complete disregard for the property rights and safety of others and for the law itself. Specifically the defendant, who has a long and continued pattern of alcohol abuse and alcohol related crimes, consumed a large amount of an alcoholic beverage, his blood alcohol level was .30--three times the level at which the law presumes a person to be under the influence of an alcoholic beverage to the extent his normal faculties are impaired--and then drove a vehicle in the middle of the afternoon on a busy street, Hillsborough Avenue. Immediately prior to the fatal accident, the defendant had been involved in two other accidents, one involving an injury, but failed to stop at either accident.
2. Defendant has shown resistance to any attempts at rehabilitation from his severe alcohol abuse problem. He has demonstrated a past pattern of committing crimes involving alcohol abuse including a prior manslaughter by intoxication to which he pled guilty and in which his blood alcohol level was .238.
3. Defendant committed a prior identical crime, yet this did not deter him from committing the same type of crime again. In 1975 the defendant pled guilty to the crime of manslaughter by intoxication in which the victim was his own brother, George Manis.
We first observe that it is proper to review the departure reasons collectively to determine whether or not, when viewed as a whole, they constitute a valid ground for departure. Silveira v. State, 525 So.2d 429 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988).
It is clear from the departure order and the record of the sentencing hearing that the trial judge was properly impressed and...
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Miller v. State
...the safety of others constitutes a clear and convincing reason for departure. Scurry v. State, 489 So.2d 25 (Fla.1986); Manis v. State, 528 So.2d 1342 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 534 So.2d 400 (Fla.1988). In Manis, this court held that the defendant's flagrant disregard for the safety of ......
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Duckett v. State, 94-00077
...act was done from ill will, hatred, spite, or an evil intent toward the victims. We recognize this court's decision in Manis v. State, 528 So.2d 1342 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 534 So.2d 400 (Fla.1988), holding that a driver impaired by alcohol causing death to another may be convicted o......
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Vasquez v. State, 88-750
...was impaired nearly three times the level at which the law presumes an individual to be under the influence of alcohol. In Manis v. State, 528 So.2d 1342 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 534 So.2d 400 (Fla.1988), the court upheld a departure sentence for vehicular homicide based upon the defenda......
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Gill v. State
...because it is already an element of the offense." See Deatrich v. State, 534 So.2d 903 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988); cf. Manis v. State, 528 So.2d 1342, 1343 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988) (holding that defendant's "actions in driving his vehicle on a busy street in a highly intoxicated condition to the extent t......