Pitts v. State
| Decision Date | 06 January 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 61086,61086 |
| Citation | 425 So.2d 542 |
| Parties | Eugene PITTS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Elliot H. Scherker, Asst. Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Janet Reno, State Atty. and Ira N. Loewy, Asst. State Atty., Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, for respondent.
Eugene Pitts, the petitioner (hereinafter referred to as defendant), in this case, seeks review and reversal of the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal in State v. Pitts, 400 So.2d 549 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Conflict is alleged between Pitts and the cases of Mahaun v. State, 377 So.2d 1158 (Fla.1979), and Redondo v. State, 403 So.2d 954 (Fla.1981). We have jurisdiction. Article V, § 3(b)(3), Fla.Const.
The facts surrounding the incident giving rise to the instant case are not at all clear. Defendant and one Willie Williams were involved in a bar room fracas which resulted in Williams' being wounded by a gun possessed by defendant. It seems as though both men argued shortly before the shooting incident. Defendant was removed from the bar. He returned shortly, and according to him, was attacked by Williams. A defense witness testified that he heard shots fired after Williams attacked defendant. Williams testified that defendant reentered the bar with a gun in his hand. One of the security guards at the bar also testified that he saw defendant standing inside of the bar holding a firearm.
Defendant was charged with aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of the aggravated battery.
The jury found defendant not guilty of the aggravated battery charge but they found him guilty of the possession charge. The trial court granted defendant's motion in arrest of judgment and entered an order to that effect. In her order the judge found the verdicts to be legally inconsistent. She also found that based on the jury's acquittal on the aggravated battery charge the jury must have also found lacking an essential element of the possession charge.
The district court reversed the order arresting defendant's judgment and conviction on the possession charge based on an earlier holding by that court in McCray v. State, 397 So.2d 1229 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). Defendant seeks review of this decision.
Defendant argues that his acquittal on the aggravated battery charge requires that his conviction on the possession charge be vacated according to the rule established by this Court in Mahaun v. State and Redondo v. State.
We disagree. In Mahaun the defendant, Patricia Mahaun, was charged with third-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse. Aggravated child abuse was the underlying felony in this case and was an essential element of the felony murder. The jury did not find defendant guilty of aggravated child abuse or attempted aggravated child abuse. She was found guilty of culpable negligence, a lesser included misdemeanor. We reasoned that because defendant's conviction for culpable negligence effectively held her innocent of the aggravated child abuse charge, and because the aggravated child abuse felony was an essential element of the felony murder, she could not have been guilty of third-degree felony murder. The jury's verdict of guilty of third-degree felony murder was clearly legally inconsistent with its verdict of guilty of culpable negligence.
The facts of Mahaun do not apply to the instant case. Here defendant was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and possession of a firearm while engaged in the aggravated battery. He was acquitted on the aggravated battery charge but was convicted on the possession charge. The trial judge instructed the jury that:
It is a crime for any person to display, use, threaten or attempt to use a firearm while committing or attempting to commit a felony. The essential elements of this offense which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt before there can be a conviction in count two are that, one, the defendant did commit or attempt to commit the felony of aggravated battery; two, while committing or attempting to commit the aggravated battery the defendant displayed, used, threatened or attempted to use a firearm.
(Emphasis added). This instruction makes it clear that the jury's acquittal on the aggravated battery charge did not preclude its finding of guilt on the possession charge. The occurrence of an aggravated battery is not a prerequisite to a finding of guilt on the possession charge. An attempted aggravated battery is sufficient, and while the jury made no explicit finding of an attempted aggravated battery, it is a logical and plausible inference on their part based on the evidence before them. And more important, unlike what transpired in Mahaun, it is not...
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Torrence v. State
...Catanese v. State, 251 So.2d 572 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971); Johnson v. State, 226 So.2d 884 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). Only because of Pitts v. State, 425 So.2d 542 (Fla.1983), do I agree that the firearm offense under Count III can be sustained notwithstanding that the related felony charge of aggravat......
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Simmons v. State
... ... 790.07(2), Fla.Stat.) and its underlying felony, 4 applied the Mahaun principle and held that a conviction of the firearms offense "must stand or fall" with its underlying felony offense. 5 Then the supreme court, in Pitts ... v. State, 425 So.2d 542 (Fla.1983), held that Mahaun should not be read to hold that the defendant had to be convicted, or found guilty, of the underlying felony in order to be convicted of the greater firearms offense, but only that he could not be convicted of the greater felony if he has ... ...
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Davis v. State
...(Pearson, J., concurring) (emphasis in original; footnote omitted). See State v. Pitts, 400 So.2d 549 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), aff'd, 425 So.2d 542 (Fla.1983); McCray v. State, 397 So.2d 1229 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), aff'd, 425 So.2d 1 (Fla.1983); Cooper v. State, 448 So.2d 6 (Fla. 3d DCA) (concurrin......
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Gonzalez v. State
...count. Several Florida cases have acknowledged the Mahaun rule but have refused to vacate allegedly inconsistent verdicts. Pitts v. State, 425 So.2d 542 (Fla.1983); McCray v. State, 397 So.2d 1229 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), aff'd, 425 So.2d 1 (Fla.1983); Marshall v. State, 421 So.2d 714 (Fla. 3d D......