State v. Suarez-Mesa
| Decision Date | 01 November 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-03676,SUAREZ-MES,A,94-03676 |
| Parties | 20 Fla. L. Weekly D2465 STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Antonioppellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Patricia E. Davenport, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellant.
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Cynthia J. Dodge, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellee.
The state appeals the trial court order which dismissed a burglary count in an indictment filed against Antonio Suarez-Mesa. 1 We reverse.
The issue in this case is one of first impression: Whether a husband who has shared a house with his wife but is restrained by court order from entering the property can be charged with burglary when he enters the premises with the intent to commit a crime. The evidence in this case showed that Suarez-Mesa and his wife rented a house. On May 3, 1994, Suarez-Mesa was arrested and remained in jail until May 16, 1994. On May 4, 1994, the court entered a Temporary Injunction for Protection Against Domestic Violence which granted the wife the temporary exclusive use and occupancy of the couple's residence and restrained Suarez-Mesa from reentering the dwelling. When the judge released Suarez-Mesa on bond on May 16th, he ordered Suarez-Mesa to not go to the wife's dwelling. After Suarez-Mesa was released from jail, he stayed at his sister's house because he understood that he was not allowed to go back to his house. His sister removed most of his belongings from the residence he had shared with his wife. On May 19, 1994, the court held a hearing on the Petition for Injunction for Protection. Suarez-Mesa was present. At the hearing the court orally announced that it was entering an injunction enjoining Suarez-Mesa from entering the dwelling of the wife. In the morning of May 20, 1994, Suarez-Mesa allegedly entered the wife's dwelling and murdered her. The court signed the injunction on May 20, 1994, at 4:30 p.m. Based on these facts, the trial court dismissed the burglary charge, concluding that Suarez-Mesa had an equal right with his wife to enter and remain on the property because the injunctions did not operate to divest him of his interest in the property.
The most relevant case in Florida is Cladd v. State, 398 So.2d 442 (Fla.1981). In Cladd the court held that a defendant could be guilty of burglary of his estranged wife's apartment when the defendant was physically but not legally separated from his wife and entered an apartment possessed only by the wife in which he had no ownership or possessory interest. The trial judge in the instant case distinguished Cladd because the wife in Cladd was in the sole possession of the premises.
There are some cases from other jurisdictions which are instructive. In Matthews v. Commonwealth, 709 S.W.2d 414 (Ky.1985), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 871, 107 S.Ct. 245, 93 L.Ed.2d 170 (1986), Matthews and his wife had rented a house from the wife's brother. The house was to be used as the marital residence when the parties were not separated. There, however, were repeated periods of separation. When the parties separated, Matthews lived with his mother. In the five weeks prior to the murders, the wife had procured two separate warrants against Matthews. Matthews had been arrested on the first warrant and released under a court order forbidding him further contact with the wife. Matthews entered the house and murdered his wife...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Whetstone v. State
...appellant could be convicted of burglary under the rationale of Cladd v. State, 398 So.2d 442 (Fla.1981), and State v. Suarez-Mesa, 662 So.2d 735 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), review denied, 669 So.2d 252 (Fla.1996). At sentencing, the prosecutor presented certified copies of previous judgments and s......
-
Jerrido v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr.
... ... 27) denied all grounds ... for relief except ground six and stayed this action to allow ... Jerrido to exhaust ground six in state court. Upon the ... apparent completion of the state court proceedings, an order ... (Doc. 47) directed the respondent both to file a ... was in place,” Jerrido had “no possessory right ... to be there.” (Id. at 177-78) State v ... Suarez-Mesa, 662 So.2d 735, 736 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), ... explains that “a spouse who has a legal interest in the ... property but not a current ... ...
-
State v. Byars
...and Corn to the instant case are without merit. Additionally, the State urges this Court to look to the decision of State v. Suarez-Mesa, 662 So.2d 735 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), as persuasive authority here. There, the Second District held that the defendant was properly convicted of burglarizing......
-
People v. Scott
...of burglary for the unlawful entry onto such property notwithstanding such individual's ownership or proprietary rights (State v Suarez-Mesa, 662 So 2d 735 [Fla 1995]; Turner v Commonwealth of Virginia, 33 Va App 88, 93-95, 531 SE2d 619, 621-622 [2000]; Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Majeed......
-
Temporary relief
...and possession, may leave the offending spouse open to criminal sanctions, as well as civil contempt. [ State of Florida v. Suarez-Mesa, 662 So. 2d 735 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (husband who has shared house with his wife but is restrained by court order from entering property can be charged with ......
-
Emergencies and case management conference
...and possession, may leave the offending spouse open to criminal sanctions, as well as civil contempt. [ State of Florida v. SuarezMesa, 662 So. 2d 735 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (husband who has shared house with his wife but is restrained by court order from entering property can be charged with b......