VM v. State, 98-1996.

• Decision Date: 03 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-1996.,98-1996.
• Citation: 729 So.2d 428
• Parties: V.M., A CHILD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

729 So.2d 428

V.M., A CHILD, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 98-1996.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

March 3, 1999.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; P. Douglas Brinkmeyer, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Karla D. Ellis and Kristina White, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

In the instant case, appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal and her conviction for aggravated battery should be reduced to simple battery because the doctrine of transferred intent does not apply to allow an intended simple battery to form the foundation for a conviction for aggravated battery on a pregnant woman. Although we agree with appellant's contention that transferred intent is inapplicable here, we affirm appellant's conviction and sentence.

The charge of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman against V.M. stemmed from an incident in which she went to the victim's home to confront her brother regarding an argument that began previously in their own home. Attempting to protect V.M.'s brother from the angry appellant, the victim, whom V.M. knew to be pregnant, stepped between the two. Whereupon, appellant repeatedly pummeled the victim on her upper and lower back with both open hand and fist. In response to defense counsel's motion for judgment of acquittal, the state advanced two theories. First, the state claimed the doctrine of transferred intent applied because in V.M.'s efforts to strike her brother she had struck the victim. Second, the state explained that V.M.'s specific intent to hit the victim was evidenced by V.M.'s repeated blows to the victim's back. The court denied V.M.'s motion for judgment of acquittal and found appellant guilty.

We first address appellant's transferred intent argument. Section 784.045(1)(b),Florida Statutes (1997), the statute under which appellant was convicted, provides that "[a] person commits aggravated battery if the person who was the victim of the battery was pregnant at the time of the offense and the offender knew or should have known that the victim was pregnant." The knowledge requirement in this statute is analogous to such a requirement in section 784.07, which prohibits the "knowing" commission of a battery on a law enforcement officer. In Mordica v. State, 618 So.2d 301 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993), we held that because of the knowledge requirement in 787.07(2), battery on a law enforcement officer is a specific intent crime. In accordance with our reasoning in Mordica, therefore, section 784.045(1)(b) defines a specific intent crime because the statute requires the knowing commission of a battery on a pregnant woman. Appellant is thus correct to argue that the doctrine of transferred intent does not operate in the instant case to elevate V.M.'s general intent to commit a simple battery on her brother to the specific intent required to violate section 784.045(1)(b). See (Mordica, 618 So.2d at 304-05)("In this case, the state could not apply the doctrine of transferred intent to enhance the severity of the crime from simple battery to battery of a law enforcement officer by only proving that simple battery against the inmate was intended."). See also D.J. v. State, 651 So.2d...