State v. Coker, 83-2605
| Decision Date | 18 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-2605,83-2605 |
| Citation | 452 So.2d 1135 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Edward A. COKER, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert J. Landry, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Jerry Hill, Public Defender, and John T. Kilcrease, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellee.
The state appeals from an order granting the appellee's motion to dismiss. We reverse.
The appellee, Edward A. Coker, was charged with violating section 893.13(3)(a)(1), Florida Statutes (1983), which makes it unlawful for any person: "(1) to acquire or obtain, or attempt to acquire or obtain, possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge."
Pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4), the appellee filed a motion to dismiss the information on the ground that there were no material disputed facts and that the undisputed facts failed to establish a prima facie case of guilt. He alleged that on July 6, 1983, Dr. William Priest wrote and delivered to him a prescription for a controlled substance, vicodin, which contains dihydiocodein. Appellee filled the prescription that same day. The following day, appellee returned to the doctor's office and requested a new prescription. He informed Dr. Priest that his mother had washed and destroyed the original prescription. The doctor refused to issue a new prescription. Appellee was subsequently arrested for attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.
The motion to dismiss also admitted that appellee had been untruthful with Dr. Priest regarding the destruction of his prescription and that his untruthful statement had been made for the express purpose of obtaining another prescription for a controlled substance. The motion further alleged that appellee had never abandoned his attempt to obtain the new prescription.
The state filed a traverse for the sole purpose of adding facts. The traverse alleged that appellee had admitted lying to the doctor in order to obtain more vicodin, had not abandoned his attempt to obtain drugs by fraud, and had been unsuccessful in obtaining a new prescription only because of Dr. Priest's suspicions.
The trial court granted the appellee's motion to dismiss the information and this appeal timely followed.
An attempt to commit a crime consists of two essential elements: a specific intent to commit the crime, and an overt act, beyond mere preparation, done toward its commission. The intent and the act must be such that they would have resulted, but for the interference of some cause preventing the carrying out of the intent, in the completed commission of the crime. Adams v. Murphy, 394 So.2d 411 (Fla.1981). This definition has been incorporated into the General Attempt Statute, section 777.04, Florida Statutes (1983). Adams.
The appellee does not contend that the allegations in the motion and traverse fail to establish the necessary intent; rather, he argues that there was no overt act toward the commission of the offense.
Under the circumstances of this case, appellee's untruthfulness with reference to the destruction of the prescription, made for the express purpose of obtaining another prescription, constituted an overt act done toward the commission of the crime; accordingly, the court erred in dismissing the charges filed against the appellee.
Preparation generally consists of devising or arranging the means or measures necessary for the commission of the offense. The attempt is the direct movement toward the commission after preparations are completed. 21 AM.JUR.2d Criminal Law § 159 (1981). The act must reach far enough toward accomplishing the desired result to amount to commencement of the consummation of the crime. Some appreciable fragment of the crime must be committed and it must proceed to the point that the crime would be consummated unless interrupted...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Connolly v. State
...cases such as Arias v. State, 593 So.2d 260 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), Morehead v. State, 556 So.2d 523 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990), State v. Coker, 452 So.2d 1135 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), and Robinson v. State, 263 So.2d 595 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972), sheds no light on the issue in this appeal. The issue in this app......
-
Santiago v. State
...to amount to commencement of the consummation of the crime." Morehead, 556 So.2d at 525 (footnote omitted) (citing State v. Coker, 452 So.2d 1135 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)). In Duke, for example, the defendant met a person who he thought was a twelve-year-old girl in a chat room on the Internet wh......
-
Byun v. State
...a specific intent to commit a particular crime, and an overt act toward its commission." (footnote omitted) ); State v. Coker, 452 So.2d 1135, 1136 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) ("An attempt to commit a crime consists of two essential elements: a specific intent to commit the crime, and an overt act, ......
-
Mizner v. State, 2D13–1917.
...toward its commission that is beyond mere preparation.” Enix v. State, 69 So.3d 354, 357 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (citing State v. Coker, 452 So.2d 1135, 1136 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984) ). The Coker court explained the difference between mere preparation and an overt act as follows:Preparation generally ......