Rivers v. State
| Decision Date | 01 November 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 62127,62127 |
| Citation | 458 So.2d 762 |
| Parties | Aldelbert RIVERS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Randolph Q. Ferguson, Miami, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Carolyn M. Snurkowski, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of several felonies, among them a conviction of first-degree murder for which a sentence of death was imposed. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm appellant's convictions but reduce his sentence for first-degree murder from death to life imprisonment.
Appellant Aldelbert Rivers and two other men entered a restaurant while armed and demanded money. Appellant shot and killed a waitress and fired two more shots as he left the building. Police appeared on the scene immediately and apprehended appellant in a nearby graveyard. When arrested, appellant asked about the woman shot at the restaurant. He was taken to a police station where, after being advised of his constitutional rights, he signed a written confession. Appellant's pretrial motion to suppress the confession was denied.
Several eyewitnesses testified at the trial about the robbery and shooting. Some of them positively identified appellant as the man who shot the waitress. A detective related appellant's confession. A medical examiner testified that the victim died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Appellant presented an insanity defense. A psychologist testified that appellant suffered from a long-standing and major mental disorder involving alcohol and drug abuse. Appellant's sister testified that appellant had been very moody prior to the murder due to problems at work and not being able to make enough money to marry his girlfriend and take care of their two children.
In rebuttal two court-appointed psychiatrists who had examined appellant before the trial testified that though appellant suffered from a personality disorder, he was not psychotic and he knew right from wrong.
The jury convicted appellant of first-degree felony murder, robbery, and possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense. The jury's verdict on the capital offense specified felony murder rather than premeditation as the basis of liability.
At the penalty phase, friends and relatives testified that appellant had an unfortunate childhood and that he had never before been convicted of a crime. After hearing this evidence and the arguments of counsel and receiving the instructions of the court, the jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment. The trial judge disagreed with the jury's recommendation, finding that the existence of only one mitigating factor and three aggravating factors called for a sentence of death.
In this appeal, appellant raises the issues of whether the trial court erred by refusing to allow "backstriking" during voir dire; whether the court erred in not holding a competency hearing; whether a non-expert witness was erroneously allowed to testify as to appellant's sanity; whether appellant's confession should have been suppressed; and whether the sentence of death was proper.
With respect to the first issue, appellant points out that during voir dire the trial judge stated that she was not going to allow any more "backstriking." During jury selection, a group of prospective jurors is typically seated in the "jury box" for the initial round of voir dire examination. After some questioning, the exercise by respective counsel of their peremptory excusals and challenges for cause may result in dismissal of some prospective jurors, and their vacated seats are then filled by new prospective jurors. The effect of the judge's ruling was to require the lawyers to accept any prospective jurors not challenged at the first opportunity. We agree with appellant's assertion that this procedure violated Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.310, which provides that a defendant may challenge a prospective juror before the juror is sworn. Jones v. State, 332 So.2d 615 (Fla.1976). However, because defense counsel did not subsequently attempt to "backstrike" any prospective juror after the judge made this statement, this issue has not been properly preserved for appeal. Denham v. State, 421 So.2d 1082 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). In addition, given the overwhelming evidence of appellant's guilt, we find that noncompliance with this rule was harmless error. Jones v. State.
Next appellant argues that the trial judge should have held a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial. Though defense counsel did not request such a hearing, appellant argues that, by virtue of his having raised insanity as a defense, there was reasonable ground to believe he was not mentally competent to stand trial and the court therefore should have ordered a hearing on its own motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.210(b). An identical argument was refuted in State v. Tait, 387 So.2d 338 (Fla.1980), where the defendant raised the defense of insanity but did not move for a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial. We concluded
that there was nothing before the court sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt as to the respondent's mental competence at trial. The trial court was not required to order a hearing on its own motion.
The rule [Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.210] draws a clear distinction between incompetence at the time of trial and insanity at the time of the offense. The judge's knowledge of results of examination ordered in connection with the defendant's reliance on the defense of insanity may or may not give rise to reasonable doubt of his competence to stand trial. Here, none of the reports or testimony before the court before or during trial gave rise to reasonable ground to believe the defendant incompetent to stand trial.
Id. at 340-41. Similarly, in this case appellant was examined before trial by two psychiatrists who declared him to be competent to stand trial. Therefore we find the trial court did not err in not holding a competency hearing on its own motion.
Appellant's third point on appeal is that the trial judge erred by allowing a detective to give an opinion as to appella...
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