Pray v. State
| Decision Date | 19 December 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-3026,89-3026 |
| Citation | Pray v. State, 571 So.2d 554, 16 Fla. L. Weekly 3 (Fla. App. 1990) |
| Parties | 16 Fla. L. Weekly 3 Jennifer PRAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Allen J. DeWeese, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Miles Ferris, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
This is an appeal from convictions for third degree felony murder and simple battery.The defendant/appellant, Jennifer Pray, raises several arguments on appeal but we find that only one has merit.
Pray was convicted of third degree felony murder on count I and simple battery on count II.Pray argues that the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal on the count for third degree felony murder because she was not convicted of any underlying felony to support the conviction.Section 782.04, Florida Statute(1987) defines third degree felony murder as:
The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated without any design to effect death, by a person engaged in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate any felony other than any ... aggravated child abuse.(emphasis added).
The jury acquitted Pray of the underlying felony in count II when it failed to find her guilty of aggravated assault, child abuse or aggravated battery and found her guilty of the lesser included offense of simple battery (a misdemeanor, not a felony).We agree with Pray that without a conviction for an underlying felony she could not be convicted of third degree felony murder.SeeMahaun v. State, 377 So.2d 1158(Fla.1979.)
The state argues that aggravated assault could have formed the basis of the felony murder since it was not...
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State v. Beach
...See Mahaun v. State, 377 So. 2d 1158, 1161 (Fla. 1979),Noel v. State, 705 So. 2d 648, 650 (Fla. App. 1998), and Pray v. State, 571 So. 2d 554, 555 (Fla. App. 1990). Mahaun cited prior Florida cases in addition to two United States Supreme Court cases, Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682, 53 L.......
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Simmons v. State
...double jeopardy clause may be implicated, see Grady v. Corbin, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990). In Pray v. State, 571 So.2d 554 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990), the Fourth District Court of Appeal seems to hold, consistent with Mahaun, that a conviction of felony murder was error ......
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Collins v. State
...451 So.2d 817 (Fla.1984); Mahaun v. State, 377 So.2d 1158 (Fla.1979); Noel v. State, 705 So.2d 648 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Pray v. State, 571 So.2d 554 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); see generally Redondo v. State, 403 So.2d 954 (Fla.1981), quashing Redondo v. State, 380 So.2d 1107 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980); (......
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Colon v. State, 97-3480.
...as well. See Mahaun v. State, 377 So.2d 1158, 1161 (Fla.1979); Noel v. State, 705 So.2d 648, 649 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998); Pray v. State, 571 So.2d 554, 555 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). Colon also argued on his direct appeal that the trial court fundamentally erred in giving a misleading jury instructio......