Statler v. State

• Decision Date: 13 October 2022
• Docket Number: SC21-119
• Citation: 349 So.3d 873
• Parties: Garrett STATLER, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

349 So.3d 873

Garrett STATLER, Petitioner,

v.STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. SC21-119

Supreme Court of Florida.

October 13, 2022

Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, Glen P. Gifford and Megan Long, Assistant Public Defenders, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, Florida, for Petitioner

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Henry C. Whitaker, Solicitor General, Jeffrey Paul DeSousa, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, David M. Costello, Assistant Solicitor General, and Steven Woods, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida, for Respondent

COURIEL, J.

In this case we consider a facial challenge to the constitutionality of a provision of Florida's sexual battery statute, section 794.011(5)(b), Florida Statutes (2015). We are asked to decide whether it "must be read to include a requirement that the State prove that a criminal defendant knew or should have known the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse." Statler v. State , 310 So. 3d 133, 134 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020). We have jurisdiction because the First District Court of Appeal rejected the constitutional challenge below, and in doing so expressly declared valid the sexual battery statute. Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const.

We, too, find that the statute is constitutional. Subsection (5)(b) requires the State to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the complainant in fact did not consent to sexual intercourse, but not that the defendant knew or should have known anything in particular about the complainant's subjective state of mind. Interpreting the sexual battery statute in this way does not violate a defendant's guarantee of due process under the Florida or United States Constitution. It does not remove the State's burden to prove the defendant's general intent to engage in the act that constitutes the offense under the statute. Because the State met that burden in this case, we approve the district court's decision affirming Statler's conviction.

I

On April 15, 2016, A.B., a woman then twenty-two years old, met Jonathan Tait at a bar in Gainesville, Florida. After talking and flirting, Tait and A.B. agreed to return to Tait's apartment.

Arriving at the apartment, Tait and A.B. went to Tait's bedroom where they kissed and, as A.B. testified, began "progressing" toward sexual intercourse. Later, upon finding out that Tait did not have any condoms, the couple walked to a nearby store. On the way, A.B. and Tait encountered three young men in the apartment complex's parking garage: Garrett Statler (Tait's roommate), Statler's brother, and Statler's friend.

A.B. testified that she smiled at the three men but denied introducing herself, speaking to them, touching them, or inviting them to accompany her and Tait anywhere. Tait likewise testified that A.B. did not speak to the three men, touch them, or engage in "any kind of flirtation." A.B. estimated the conversation lasted thirty seconds, and Tait testified that it lasted "only a few minutes."

Statler's brother testified that the conversation lasted closer to fifteen minutes, that A.B. was flirtatious and "got close" to all three men, and that A.B. asked the three men "[m]ultiple times" to "come up and party" with her and Tait. Statler's friend testified that A.B. was "pretty flirty" and "grabbed [his] waist." According to Statler's friend, A.B. was "flirtatious" and "touchy-feely" with Statler throughout the conversation.

After parting ways with the three men, A.B. and Tait continued to the convenience store, purchased condoms, and returned to Tait's apartment alone. They entered Tait's bedroom and had consensual intercourse. At some point during their encounter, Tait stopped and left the room. It is undisputed that as Tait left the room, A.B. was lying stomach-down on the bed, facing the wall, back to the doorway. As he left, Tait told A.B. something along the lines of: "Stay right there. I'll be right back," or "Wait right there. I'll be right back."

Tait testified that he used the bathroom, then went to the other bedroom to talk to Statler and Statler's friend, who by then had arrived. Tait bragged to both men about his encounter with A.B. and said to Statler, "You could try if you want." According to Tait, Statler said nothing in response. He "just walked in[to Tait's bedroom]." Tait explained he "wasn't in [the other] bedroom more than 45 seconds, and [Statler] was already in my room." Tait did not follow Statler, but instead smoked a cigarette from the balcony connected to Statler's room.

After he finished his cigarette, Tait looked through the crack in his bedroom door and saw Statler having sex with A.B. Tait then "got out of there" and stood in the kitchen waiting for Statler to come out.

A.B. testified that she knew Tait had left the room because she felt him move off the bed and heard no one else breathing in the room; after he was gone, she remained facing the wall away from the doorway. Thirty seconds later, A.B. heard someone come in, then felt hands grab her hips. She "assumed that it was Tait coming back and we were going to finish."

Although the lights were on, her view was unobstructed,¹ and she was not heavily intoxicated or otherwise impaired, A.B. did not turn around when Statler pulled her close and began having intercourse with her. He never spoke or identified himself. A.B. testified that she had no reason "at all" to think it was not Tait. She told him to "go harder" several times and "it feels good." When it was over, she sank into the bed, still on her stomach and facing the wall.

Tait testified that Statler eventually stepped halfway out the bedroom door into the kitchen, whereupon Tait told him, "Hey, tell [A.B.] to leave." Tait then saw Statler go back into the bedroom. A.B. testified that the person behind her "laughed a little bit ... like a nervous laugh," causing her to turn around. She then realized that he "was not the same person I was initially having sex with." A.B. testified that Statler was "grinning like he knew he did something bad" and "was waiting to see my reaction."

A.B. testified that once she realized "it was a different person" she "was overwhelmed." She "tr[ied] to gather [herself]" and put her pants on. Then, she said:

[B]y the time I got my pants on, I knew that I was going to attack this person because what they did to me was attack me. So I wasn't going to attack him naked, so I put my pants on and I looked up at him and I said, You raped me.

A.B. testified that Statler

looked at me and he said, What? No. We're just partying. And I said, No, you fucking raped me. And I got up and I tried to jump at him and claw at him.... I was trying to scratch him and do as much harm as I possibly could.

The fight spilled into the living room, with A.B. "chasing [Statler]" and "screaming at the top of [her] lungs." Tait intervened and pulled A.B. off Statler, carrying her back toward Tait's bedroom.

Once A.B. was separated from Statler, Tait handed A.B. her shirt and attempted to calm her, saying, "You're okay. It's fine. It's all going to be fine." A.B. testified that she continued to scream at Tait, "No, it's not. You raped me." A.B. then attempted to call the police on her phone, but before she could talk to an operator, Tait took the phone from A.B. and hung up on the 911 operator. Tait then grabbed A.B. by the arm and physically threw her out of the apartment. Tait and Statler closed the door and locked A.B. outside.

A neighbor in another apartment heard "someone yelling for help" and "went upstairs to investigate." He testified that when he walked out of the stairwell, he saw A.B. "on the ground crying," with a "doe-in-headlights look." The neighbor described A.B. as "terrified," "scared of everything," and repeating the phrase, "It wasn't him." A.B. picked up her phone and called 911 a second time as the neighbor led her downstairs to his apartment. In the neighbor's apartment, A.B. spoke to the 911 dispatcher and stated she had been raped. A.B. waited in the neighbor's apartment until the police arrived. A.B. spoke to the police in the neighbor's apartment. They accompanied her to a hospital.

Based on these events, the State charged Statler with one count of sexual battery under subsection (5)(b). At trial, when the State rested its case, Statler moved for judgment of acquittal. His counsel argued that

in terms of intent, the state cannot refute a reasonable hypothesis of innocence that Mr. Statler believed that he had consent from the alleged victim, who was not physically incapacitated and whose physical response and all of the evidence that he could have had at the time suggested that it was a consensual act.

The trial court disagreed, noting that the "issue is not whether he believes he has consent," but "whether she gave consent." The trial judge continued:

[T]he [element the State has] to prove is to beyond a reasonable doubt that she did not give consent. Whether he believes he has consent is not a defense. It goes to—it may go to the reasonable doubt in terms of the—all of those actions may give rise if the jury believes they have a doubt as to whether she gave consent, but the issue is not what he believed.

The trial court denied the motion for judgment of acquittal and moved on to discuss the verdict form and jury instructions. Statler did not object to the jury instruction listing the following elements of sexual battery:

Number one, that Garrett Statler committed an act upon [A.B.] in which his penis penetrated or made contact with the vagina of [A.B.].

Number two, that Garrett Statler’[s] act was committed without the consent of [A.B.].

Number three, at the time of the offense, [A.B.] was 18 years of age or older.

And number four, at the time of the offense Garrett Statler was 18 years of age or older.

Consent means intelligent, knowing, and voluntary consent and does not include coerced submission. Consent does not mean the failure by the alleged victim to offer physical resistance to the offender.

The jury found Statler guilty of sexual battery as charged. The trial court...