Puhl v. State
| Decision Date | 09 February 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1207,82-1207 |
| Citation | 426 So.2d 1226 |
| Parties | William George PUHL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Gary Caldwell, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Joy B. Shearer, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
William G. Puhl appeals from judgments of guilty of twelve criminal charges entered pursuant to jury verdicts and from sentences totalling 120 years.
The information charged Puhl with committing a kidnapping and three other offenses relative to one victim and eight more offenses relative to five other victims. Before trial Puhl moved for a severance of the four charges involving the kidnapping victim from the eight charges involving the other victims, but the court denied the motion.
The evidence adduced at trial shows that around 8 p.m. on the evening of September 6, 1981, Puhl held a gun on a young lady and forced her to get into his car with him. After the pair drove to a convenience store, the kidnapping victim escaped. Some two and a half hours later Puhl accosted three persons, robbed them, and fired shots at them and at two other persons. The only similarity between the offense against the kidnapping victim and the other victims was the use of a handgun by Puhl.
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.150(a) provides that:
Two or more offenses which are triable in the same court may be charged in the same indictment or information in a separate count for each offense, when the offenses, whether felonies or misdemeanors, or both, are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more connected acts or transactions.
Another pertinent rule, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.152(a)(1), provides that:
(1) In case two or more offenses are improperly charged in a single indictment or information, the defendant shall have a right to a severance of the charges upon timely motion thereof.
It is apparent from the foregoing that offenses may not be joined if they are not based on the same act or transaction or two or more connected acts or transactions and that a severance must be granted upon a timely motion if two or more offenses are improperly joined. Rubins v. State, 407 So.2d 961 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Macklin v. State, 395 So.2d 1219 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1981).
Because of the overwhelming evidence of Puhl's guilt on...
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Garcia v. State, 73648
...severed), review denied, 506 So.2d 1043 (Fla.), and cert. denied, 484 U.S. 823, 108 S.Ct. 87, 98 L.Ed.2d 48 (1987); Puhl v. State, 426 So.2d 1226, 1227 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (kidnapping and other charges Because the discussion above disposes of this case, we do not address any of Garcia's oth......
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Beltran v. State, 86-1345
...McMullen v. State, 405 So.2d 479 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Macklin v. State, 395 So.2d 1219 (Fla.3d DCA 1981); see also Puhl v. State, 426 So.2d 1226, 1227 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (noting that "[t]he weight of authority in this state ... is that prejudice is presumed from an improper joinder of offen......
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Hart v. State , s. 1D09–2300
...crimes,” even taking into consideration the fact that the BB gun was used during the commission of both crimes. See Puhl v. State, 426 So.2d 1226, 1227 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (holding that joinder was improper where the “only similarity” between the offenses was the use of a handgun). But see ......
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Thames v. State, AY-188
...severed from a single information if the offenses are not based upon the same or connected acts or transactions. Puhl v. State, 426 So.2d 1226 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983). Additionally, rule 3.152 provides that the trial court shall grant a severance of two or more charges included in an informatio......