RONNIE FERRELL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1989-06-13
No. 88-977
ERVIN and BOOTH, JJ., concur.
544 So. 2d 336 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1989) Caution
Cited by 14 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

Appellant Ferrell challenges his convictions for battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence arising from a jail disturbance. The court reversed, holding that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of simple battery and resisting an officer without violence.


Holding

The trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on simple battery as a necessarily lesser included offense of battery on a law enforcement officer, and also erred by refusing to instruct on resisting an officer without violence, which the evidence could support. The jury should have been instructed on both lesser offenses.


Headnotes

[1] A jury instruction on a lesser included offense must be given if the evidence presented at trial could support a conviction for that offense, even if the evidence also su…

[2] A jury instruction on simple battery must be given when charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, as simple battery is a necessarily lesser included offense.

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Key Quotes

“Battery is a necessarily lesser included offense of a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. State v. Wimberly, 498 So.2d 929 (Fla.1986). Even though the evidence clearly established that the alleged victim was a law enforcement officer, the court was required to give the requested instruction as to the lesser offense of battery so as to not deprive the jury of its pardon power.”

Establishes that the trial court must instruct on simple battery as a lesser included offense even when the victim is proven to be a law enforcement officer.

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Facts & Procedural History

Ferrell, an inmate at a county jail, was involved in a disturbance that escalated into an altercation between correctional officers and inmates. Offic…

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Opinion of the Court
WENTWORTH, Judge.

WENTWORTH, Judge.

Appellant seeks review of judgments of conviction and sentences for the offenses of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. We find that the court’s jury instructions should have included the lesser offenses of simple battery and resisting an officer without violence. We therefore reverse the orders appealed.

Appellant was an inmate at a county jail facility where a disturbance occurred which escalated into an altercation between correctional officers and numerous inmates. As a result of this incident appellant was charged with rioting, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence.

At trial a correctional officer indicated that appellant was hollering and yelling in a manner which generally incited the other inmates and that when the officer approached appellant struck him in the mouth, whereupon the two engaged in a physical struggle which also involved another officer. Other correctional officers also testified that appellant was one of a' small group inciting other inmates. One officer stated that she saw appellant “push or shove or hit” the officer with whom he engaged in the physical struggle. Appellant and another inmate denied that appellant was involved in this altercation or the general disturbance at the jail.

Appellant requested that the court instruct the jury as to the offenses of battery and resisting an officer without violence. The court noted that appellant had denied any involvement in the incident. Concluding that the state’s evidence would not support these lesser offenses, the court declined to give the requested instructions. The jury was instructed as to rioting, battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence, and returned verdicts finding appellant guilty of each of these offenses.

Battery is a necessarily lesser included offense of a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. State v. Wimberly, 498 So. 2d 929 (Fla.1986). Even though the evidence clearly established that the alleged victim was a law enforcement officer, the court was required to give the requested instruction as to the lesser offense of battery so as to not deprive the jury of its pardon power. See Wimberly, supra.

Resisting an officer without violence is not a necessarily lesser included offense of resisting an officer with violence, but may become a lesser included depending upon the allegations of the charging document and the proof presented at trial. See Benjamin v. State, 462 So. 2d 110 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985).

Where the charging document alleges the elements of the lesser crime, and evidence is presented which would support the lesser charge, the jury should be instructed as to the lesser offense. Benjamin, supra. In the present case appellant was charged with resisting an officer “by offering or doing violence ... by fighting_” The evidence at trial included testimony that appellant verbally resisted the officers, and that he pushed one and tried to break loose from another by “thrashing.” These descriptions of appellant’s conduct could support the lesser charge of resisting an officer without violence, as could the allegations of the charging document. The court thus should have also instructed the jury as to the lesser offense of resisting without violence.

Appellant’s convictions for battery on a law enforcement officer, and resisting an officer with violence, are reversed, and the cause is remanded.

ERVIN and BOOTH, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • White v. State, 618 So. 2d 354 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)
    …he first issue is whether the trial court reversibly erred in failing to give a requested instruction as to Count II on resisting an officer without violence. We reverse the conviction as to Count II and remand for a new trial. See Ferrell v. State, 544 So. 2d 336, 337 (Fla. 1st DCA1989). Because we believe the trial court might have misapprehended, and therefore limited, the scope of its discretionary sentencing authority, we vacate Appellant’s sentences on both charges and remand for the trial court to reco…
  • Renetha C. Wyche v. State, 573 So. 2d 953 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)
    …that her conviction for battery of a law enforcement officer must be reversed because the trial court failed to instruct the jury on the necessarily lesser-included offense of battery. State v. Wimberly, 498 So. 2d 929 (Fla.1986); Ferrell v. State, 544 So. 2d 336 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). The defendant correctly maintains that these precedents warrant a reversal of this conviction. If we had the option, we would find this error to be harmless because the evidence without dispute establishes that the battery victi…
  • Brown v. State, 608 So. 2d 114 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …nt of giving an instruction on necessarily lesser included offenses is bottomed upon the recognition of the jury’s right to exercise its “pardon power.” Id. at 932. Wimberly appears to be directly on point and has been followed in Ferrell v. State, 544 So. 2d 336 (Pla. 1st DCA 1989) (reversing conviction for battery on law enforcement officer, because trial court failed to give simple battery instruction). See also Macklin v. State, 590 So. 2d 1044 (Pla. 3d DCA 1991); Wyche v. State, 573 So. 2d 953 (Fla.2d D…

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