Occhicone v. State, 71505

Citation570 So.2d 902
Decision Date11 October 1990
Docket NumberNo. 71505,71505
Parties15 Fla. L. Weekly S531 Dominick OCCHICONE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Florida

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Douglas S. Connor, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Peggy A. Quince, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Dominick Occhicone appeals his convictions of first-degree murder and sentence of death. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution, and affirm both his convictions and sentence.

In the early morning hours of June 10, 1986 Occhicone awakened his former girlfriend by knocking on the sliding glass door to her bedroom in a house she shared with her children and her parents. The woman refused to talk with him and he left. He returned an hour or so later, armed with a handgun, and cut the telephone lines and roused the household. When the woman's father confronted him outside the house, Occhicone shot him. The woman and her daughter fled the house while Occhicone was breaking into it through a locked door. Once inside Occhicone shot the woman's mother four times. A jury found Occhicone guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and recommended death for each count. The trial court sentenced Occhicone to life imprisonment for killing the woman's father and to death for killing her mother.

As his first point on appeal, Occhicone argues that, during opening argument, the state anticipated his defense of insanity and argued proof that never came into evidence and that the trial court erred in overruling his objection to the prosecutor's opening statements. 1 Opening remarks are not evidence, and the purpose of opening argument is to outline what an attorney expects to be established by the evidence. Whitted v. State, 362 So.2d 668 (Fla.1978). Our review of the record discloses no more than a good faith attempt to do that. Insanity had not been abandoned as a defense at that point, and we do not see how the prosecutor's brief reference to physicians being expected to testify at trial prejudiced Occhicone. The control of comments is within the trial court's discretion. Breedlove v. State, 413 So.2d 1 (Fla.), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 882, 103 S.Ct. 184, 74 L.Ed.2d 149 (1982). Occhicone has shown no abuse of discretion, and we find no merit to this point.

Occhicone also argues that the court erred in not granting his motion for mistrial based on a spectator's alleged misconduct. During voir dire, according to Occhicone, a spectator told a prospective juror that she thought Occhicone was guilty. When brought to its attention, the court questioned the spectator and Occhicone's niece, the person who claimed to have overheard the comments. Afterwards, the court denied Occhicone's motion for mistrial, finding that the jury pool had not been tainted. The court told defense counsel that he could ask the prospective jurors if they had heard the spectator say anything, but counsel did not so inquire during voir dire. The trial court promptly considered this alleged impropriety, and Occhicone has shown no abuse of discretion in the court's actions or rulings.

Occhicone relied on diminished capacity as a defense. 2 To refute Occhicone's claim that his state of constant intoxication prevented his knowing what he was doing, the state presented a deputy's testimony as to Occhicone's refusal to allow his hands to be swabbed for an atomic absorption test. The deputy stated that Occhicone pulled his hands away and said: "You're going to have to force me to [take the test]." The defense did not object to this testimony, but, later, tried to object to its admission. The court found the objection untimely because, at a bench conference prior to the deputy's testimony, the prosecutor stated exactly what the deputy would say and defense counsel did not object at that time or when the deputy testified. The prosecutor commented on this testimony during closing argument, and defense counsel objected to that comment.

Occhicone now argues that allowing the prosecutor to comment on his refusal to take the hand swab test constituted penalizing him for exercising his post-Miranda 3 rights. We disagree and find Occhicone's reliance on Herring v. State, 501 So.2d 19 (Fla.3d DCA 1986), misplaced. In Herring the prosecutor argued that Herring's refusal to have his hands swabbed was convincing proof of his consciousness of his guilt. Herring's counsel objected to this argument, and the district court found reversible error. Here, on the other hand, the prosecutor commented on the evidence only to refute Occhicone's claim of diminished capacity, not to demonstrate his guilt, and defense counsel did not object in a timely manner. We find no merit to this issue.

We also find no merit to Occhicone's claim that the trial court erred in not telling Occhicone specifically that he had the right to testify in his own behalf. As Occhicone concedes, we decided this issue in Torres-Arboledo v. State, 524 So.2d 403 (Fla.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 901, 109 S.Ct. 250, 102 L.Ed.2d 239 (1988), and we decline his invitation to revisit it.

Our review of the record discloses sufficient evidence to support Occhicone's convictions, and we affirm them.

The trial court found that three aggravating factors had been established: previous conviction of a violent felony; committed during a burglary; and cold, calculated, and premeditated. Occhicone now argues that the last factor should not have been found. The totality of the circumstances relied upon by the trial judge 4 support his finding the murder to have been committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner with no pretense of moral or legal justification. When there is a legal basis to support finding an aggravating factor, we will not substitute our judgment for that of the trial court and, therefore, affirm this finding. The other aggravating factors are well supported by the record.

Using as a predicate his claim that the court should not have found cold, calculated, and premeditated, Occhicone also argues that death is disproportionate in his case. The cases he relies on are factually distinguishable. This case involved substantially more than a passionate obsession; it was the culmination of avowed threats to terminate the lives of parents standing between Occhicone and his former girlfriend. We do not find death a disproportionate sentence here.

Occhicone also claims the court committed reversible error in not defining the crime of burglary when instructing the jury on the aggravating factor of murder committed during the course of a burglary. We find no merit to this claim for several reasons. During the sentencing proceeding charge conference, Occhicone objected to all of the proposed aggravating circumstances. Regarding the instant one, he argued that "the facts, evidence and circumstances" did not support it. After hearing argument from both sides, the court held that the state could argue this factor and that the jury would be instructed on it. Occhicone did not object again and, most importantly, did not object on the specific ground now advanced, i.e., failure to define burglary, or request the giving of such definition. "In order to preserve an issue for appellate review, the specific legal argument or ground upon which it is based must be presented to the trial court." Bertolotti v. Dugger, 514 So.2d 1095, 1096 (Fla.1987). This claim, therefore, has not been preserved.

Even if the issue had been preserved, however, we would find any error regarding this instruction harmless. If the state proceeds in the guilt phase on theories of both premeditated and felony murder, the underlying felony must be defined. Franklin v. State, 403 So.2d 975 (Fla.1981). Here, however, the state charged Occhicone with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder and the court instructed on and the state argued only premeditated murder. The state need not charge and convict of felony murder or any felony in order for a court to find the aggravating factor of murder committed during the course of a felony. Ruffin v. State, 397 So.2d 277 (Fla.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 882, 102 S.Ct. 368, 70 L.Ed.2d 194 (1981). While the jury should have been told what constitutes burglary, the failure to do so is not fundamental error when there are other valid aggravating circumstances. The jury does not have to specify what factors it relied on in making its recommendation. Speculating that Occhicone's jury may have relied on one word without knowing its specific legal definition is of no moment here because the judge as the sentencer must make written findings supporting the sentence. We must assume that the instant judge knew the technical definition of burglary, and the facts 5 support his finding the mother's murder to have been committed during a burglary.

We find no merit to the rest of Occhicone's claims. Maynard v. Cartwright, 486 U.S. 356, 108 S.Ct. 1853, 100 L.Ed.2d 372 (1988), did not make Florida's penalty instructions on cold, calculated, and premeditated and heinous, atrocious, or cruel unconstitutionally vague. Brown v. State, 565 So.2d 304 (Fla.1990); Smalley v. State, 546 So.2d 720 (Fla.1989). We find no support for Occhicone's claim that the prosecutor's cross-examination of witnesses "insinuated" that he had an extensive criminal record. Allowing a deputy to testify about the events leading to Occhicone's prior arrest and conviction of resisting arrest with violence was not error. Rhodes v. State, 547 So.2d 1201 (Fla.1989); Dufour v. State, 495 So.2d 154 (Fla.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1101, 107 S.Ct. 1332, 94 L.Ed.2d 183 (1987); King v. State, 436 So.2d 50 (Fla.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 909, 104 S.Ct. 1690, 80 L.Ed.2d 163 (1984). The court did not err in allowing lay witnesses to express their opinions as to Occhicone's not being intoxicated when they...

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