Wright v. State

• Decision Date: 11 August 1981
• Docket Number: No. 79-1150,79-1150
• Citation: 402 So.2d 493
• Parties: Dorothy Melene WRIGHT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 493

402 So.2d 493

Dorothy Melene WRIGHT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 79-1150.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Aug. 11, 1981.

Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Ellis S. Rubin, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Steven L. Bolotin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before SCHWARTZ and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ., and VANN, HAROLD R. (Ret.), Associate Judge.

DANIEL S. PEARSON, Judge.

Dorothy Wright was charged with the premeditated first degree murder of Barbara Hall. A jury found her guilty of second degree murder. She appeals from the court's judgment and a life term of imprisonment imposed thereon.

Wright contends, inter alia, that (1) she was entitled to the entry of a judgment of acquittal because (a) her uncontradicted grand jury testimony, relied upon by the State to prove her complicity, establishes that she did not shoot at Hall with the intent to kill her, and (b) Wright's shot did not cause Hall's death; (2) she is entitled to a new trial because the trial court denied her requested instruction on her defense of duress; and (3) she is, at least, entitled to have her conviction reduced to manslaughter, since the undisputed proof shows that she acted under duress and not with the depraved state of mind required for second degree murder.

The proof at trial essentially consisted of (a) the medical examiner's testimony that of the three bullets which entered Hall's body, only the shots to the head and neck were lethal, and the shot to the chest (purportedly the one shot fired by Wright) may not have been lethal; and (b) the defendant's grand jury testimony. The defendant did not testify at trial.

I. Wright's Grand Jury Testimony

Wright testified before the grand jury ¹ that she; her separately tried co-defendant, Joe La Rocca ² ; and Barbie Hall worked at the Busy Bee Car Wash in South Miami. On the morning of the murder, approximately January 26, 1979, La Rocca drove Barbie Hall and Wright to work, dropped Barbie off at the car wash, and took Wright to breakfast. At breakfast, La Rocca told Wright that he had to get rid of Barbie because she knew too much. La Rocca and Barbie Hall were living together at the time, and Wright at first thought he meant to throw Hall out of the house. This misconception was short lived. La Rocca said to Wright, "I'm going to have to kill her." La Rocca then told Wright that she would have to do the killing, so that he could be sure Wright would not say anything, and he threatened to kill Wright if she refused. He also told her that he would get Barbie to go with them after work by telling Barbie that they were going to make a cocaine deal.

Wright understood that when La Rocca said that Barbie Hall knew too much, he was referring to a "contract" he had to kill a woman named Linda Norman. Prior to the day of this breakfast, La Rocca had told Wright that he was being paid to kill Linda Norman. In fact, Wright, again before the day of the breakfast and the murder of Hall, had accompanied La Rocca when he firebombed a restaurant where Linda Norman worked. Indeed, after the Hall murder, on an occasion when La Rocca "shot up" an apartment in which Linda Norman was supposed to be staying, Wright drove La Rocca to the scene. Wright said she drove the car because La Rocca told her she had to.

After breakfast, Wright went to work at the car wash. There she saw Barbie Hall. She did not warn Hall that her life was in danger or that she and La Rocca planned to kill her that evening. Wright knew that the killing was planned for that evening. During the afternoon, La Rocca was around "off and on," but Wright was out of his presence for "a couple of hours." Wright admitted that she did not warn Barbie Hall, attempt to flee, call the police, or do anything to avoid or prevent what she knew was about to occur.

La Rocca picked up Wright and then Barbie around 5:00 or 5:30 p. m. Wright knew that Barbie was under the impression that a cocaine deal was planned. La Rocca, Wright and Hall drove down to a field where, according to Wright, Hall "was going to be killed." La Rocca had told Wright when he picked her up that he had checked the place out and found it satisfactory. La Rocca stopped the car, and he and Wright got out. Hall was still in the car changing her shirt. La Rocca handed Wright the gun and asked her if she was ready. Wright said, "No, but I guess I have to be"; La Rocca replied, "You're right," and Wright said, "Okay." Hall got out of the car. All three walked for a distance. While Hall was looking in her purse for something, Wright raised the gun and shot her. The shot hit Hall, and she fell to the ground. Wright was not sure how many times she fired, but she remembered once.

La Rocca grabbed the gun, telling Wright he was going to shoot the victim in the face so she would not be recognized. He straddled Hall and fired two or three times. He then told Wright to help him pull the body into the bushes. Wright said, "I can't." La Rocca dragged the body into the bushes while Wright stood close by pretending to help.

After the murder, La Rocca and Wright went to Elaine's Lounge, where Wright's mother worked. Wright played a game of pool while La Rocca talked to her mother. La Rocca took Wright to her home.

For at least two weeks after the killing, Wright neither called the police nor sought help for the victim. While Wright thought Hall was probably dead, she was not certain. She testified that she was afraid to tell anyone, because La Rocca said he would kill her or her mother.

During this same period after the murder, Wright told people that Hall had decided to leave and go back to Virginia. Wright explained that she said this because "Joe (La Rocca) told me I had to." Wright also began wearing Hall's clothes and gave away certain of Hall's clothing to others. At first she explained this by: "Joe told me that I was to take the clothes and get rid of them." Later she explained that at first La Rocca had told her to wear the clothes and say that Hall had left them for her, but then she began giving the clothing away when she could not take it any more. During the two weeks after the murder, at La Rocca's insistence, Wright went with him to Key Largo for the weekend.

According to Wright, approximately two weeks after the murder, she decided to go to the police and tell her story. Coincidentally, the police had come to her house earlier that day and left a message that they wanted to talk to her. Wright did not speak to any law enforcement officer until after she knew the police were aware of her involvement. She claimed, however, that she had made her decision to go to the police before she knew they were looking for her. ³ This, in essence, was Wright's testimony before the grand jury.

II. The Judgment of Acquittal

Distinct from the issue of duress, discussed infra, are Wright's contentions that (a) the evidence is uncontradicted that she shot Hall without any intent to kill, but only with an intent to wound ⁴ ; and (b) there was insufficient proof to show that Wright's act proximately caused Hall's death. She says these contentions entitle her to an acquittal of second degree murder. We disagree.

If Wright's act caused the death of Hall, then her contention that she intended only to harm, not kill, is unavailing. Hines v. State, 227 So.2d 334 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969). See also United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company v. Perez, 384 So.2d 904 (Fla.3d DCA 1980) ("recklessly firing a gun into a crowd of people constitutes second degree murder when a person is killed thereby even though ... the defendant had no intent to hit or kill anyone"); Berry v. State, 114 Fla. 73, 153 So. 507 (1934); Gavin v. State, 42 Fla. 553, 29 So. 405 (1900); Golding v. State, 26 Fla. 530, 8 So. 311 (1890). Compare Manuel v. State, 344 So.2d 1317 (Fla.2d DCA 1977) (where defendant fires gun in direction where it would not likely result in harm to anyone, but it does, evidence will support culpable negligence only). But assuming, arguendo, that (a) the State's proof through the testimony of the medical examiner fell short of showing that the bullet which hit Hall's chest caused her death, and (b) the undisputed evidence was that the only shot which Wright fired hit Hall in the chest, and that, therefore, Wright's act did not cause Hall's death, then Wright would be correct that her act of shooting Hall, standing by itself, could not sustain her murder conviction. J.A.C. v. State, 374 So.2d 606 (Fla.3d DCA 1979). Accord, Karl v. State, 144 So.2d 869 (Fla.3d DCA 1962). Wright's argument overlooks that because she acted in concert with another person, she is responsible, not merely for her own acts, but for his. The evidence, including her own grand jury testimony, indisputably supports her conviction as an aider and abettor in La Rocca's killing of Hall. ⁵

In order for Wright to be convicted of aiding and abetting La Rocca's crime, the State was required to prove, and did prove, that the crime was committed, that Wright aided in its commission, and that Wright had the intent to participate in the crime. See Beasley v. State, 360 So.2d 1275 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978). The only issue in dispute was Wright's intent to participate, which she says was not shown because of her "unrebutted" duress defense, discussed infra. But that defense aside, Wright's own words, combined with the proof that the crime was committed, are more than adequate to prove that she aided and abetted in the killing of Hall and was not, therefore, entitled to a judgment of acquittal. See Shockey v. State, 338 So.2d 33 (Fla.3d DCA 1976) (upholding first degree murder conviction of defendant who, knowing that one Kirsch planned to kill the victim, drove the victim to train station while Kirsch hid in the back of the car and watched while Kirsch killed the victim); McClamrock v. State, 327 So.2d 780 (Fla.3d DCA 1976) (upholding second degree murder...