GORDON WALTER ARNOLD, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1987-03-27
No. 85-2755
SCHEB, A.C.J., and RYDER and LEHAN, JJ., concur.
505 So. 2d 1104 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1987) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Gordon Arnold appeals his manslaughter conviction and sentence. The court affirms the conviction and the sentence itself, but reverses and remands regarding the imposition of costs due to lack of proper notice and ability-to-pay determination.


Holding

The confession was admissible because defendant reinitiated conversation with police after invoking his rights. Two of three reasons for sentencing departure were valid under Florida law. However, the imposition of costs was improper because there was no determination of defendant's ability to pay and no proper notice of the assessment.


Headnotes

[1] A confession is admissible when a defendant, after invoking the right to remain silent, initiates further conversation with police that leads to the confession.

[2] A detective's question to a defendant en route to jail about whether he wanted to make a statement before going to jail does not, by itself, render a subsequent confessio…

Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“After invoking his right to remain silent defendant initiated further conversation with the police which led to the confession.”

Establishes the legal principle that reinitiation of conversation by the defendant after invoking rights permits admission of subsequent confessions.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Defendant Arnold was convicted of manslaughter for fatally shooting a victim multiple times (at least eight bullets). The defendant subsequently secur…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals from his conviction and sentencing for manslaughter. We affirm the conviction but reverse and remand for resentencing.

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his confession because he had invoked his right to remain silent. We disagree. After invoking his right to remain silent defendant initiated further conversation with the police which led to the confession. See Smith v. Illinois, 469 U.S. 91, 105 S.Ct. 490, 83 L.Ed.2d 488 (1984); Valle v. State, 474 So. 2d 796, 799 (Fla.1985). Nor do we conclude that the confession was improperly induced or coerced, as defendant also argues, simply because a detective, while with defendant en route to jail, asked defendant if he wanted to stop at the police station to make a statement before going to jail.

Defendant also contends that the trial court erred in exceeding the recommended sentencing guidelines range. We conclude that one of the trial court’s reasons was invalid but that the other two reasons were valid. The reasons were as follows:

(1) “The sentence is grossly inappropriate punishment for the defendant’s unjustified taking of another human life.” This reason is not valid. See Williams v. State, 492 So. 2d 1308 (Fla.1986); McNealy v. State, 502 So. 2d 54 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987).

(2) “The homicide was extremely violent and committed without pity.” The judge noted that defendant “pumped not less than eight bullets into the body of victim.” This may be a valid reason for departure. See Allen v. State, 502 So. 2d 950 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987) (referring to “facts rendering the crime a highly extraordinary and extreme incident of manslaughter”); Vanover v. State, 498 So. 2d 899 (Fla.1986).

(8) The defendant “with calculation ... secured the residence of the victim thereby preventing the discovery of the victim’s body ... [leaving] the body ... to rot_” Committing a crime with calculation, where premeditation is not an element of the crime, may be a valid reason for departure. See Casteel v. State, 498 So. 2d 1249 (Fla.1986). While in this manslaughter case the calculation referred to by the trial court concerned covering up the crime after it was committed, we do not conclude that there was any less basis for a departure in this case.

Having found one of the reasons for departure to be invalid, the state must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the absence of that invalid reason would not have affected the departure sentence. Al-britton v. State, 476 So. 2d 158 (Fla.1985). We find that the reasonable doubt standard has been met and therefore affirm the sentence.

Defendant further contends that the imposition of costs pursuant to section 27.-3455, Florida Statutes (1985), violates the ex post facto provisions of the United States and Florida Constitutions. However, it appears that defendant did not raise this point in the trial court and therefore failed to preserve it for appeal. See Parker v. State, 500 So. 2d 721 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Treadway v. State, 500 So. 2d 308 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Maldonado v. State, 498 So. 2d 1057 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Johnson v. State, 495 So. 2d 188 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); contra Webber v. State, 497 So. 2d 995 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986).

Defendant additionally contends that there was error because there was no determination as to his ability to pay, and no notice of the assessment of, the section 27.3455 costs. We agree. See Jenkins v. State, 444 So. 2d 947 (Fla.1984). We reverse the imposition of costs and remand in order that the state may have the opportunity to properly proceed against defendant in accordance with Jenkins. See Blanton v. State, 501 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Beahn v. State, 499 So. 2d 74 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Any failure to pay costs has not-disentitled defendant to gain time. See Atkins v. State, 506 So. 2d 10 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987).

The conviction is affirmed. The cause is remanded for the state to have the opportunity to proceed against defendant for costs.

SCHEB, A.C.J., and RYDER and LEHAN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Sescon v. State, 506 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)
    …urt made no mention of costs during the hearing but later imposed them in its written judgment, we find that the trial court erred by not comporting with the procedural safeguards in Jenkins v. State, 444 So. 2d 947 (Fla. 1984). See Arnold v. State, 505 So. 2d 1104 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987). We also find merit to the defendant’s argument that the imposition of costs pursuant to section 27.3455 violated the ex post facto provisions of the United States and Florida Constitutions. The state argues that the defendant f…
  • Williams v. State, 531 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
    …utes an extraordinary and extreme incident of attempted murder that went well beyond the overt act which is an essential element of attempted first degree murder. See, generally, Fryson v. State, 506 So. 2d 1117 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987); Arnold v. State, 505 So. 2d 1104 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 515 So. 2d 229 (Fla.1987). We conclude, therefore, that the second departure reason, based on the egregious nature of appellant’s conduct, “is a clear and convincing reason for departure under the circumstances of the p…

Authorities Cited (18 total)

View all 18 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw