WILLIAM LEE FAULKNER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1991-07-18
No. 90-1676
COWART and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
582 So. 2d 783 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1991) Caution
Cited by 28 cases

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Synopsis

William Lee Faulkner appeals a restitution order requiring him to pay $10,000 to burglary victims for items stolen from their home. Faulkner pleaded nolo contendere only to dealing in stolen property related to two rifles, not to the burglary itself. The court quashed the restitution order because it improperly encompassed damages unrelated to the offense for which he was convicted.


Holding

The court quashed the restitution order because the state failed to establish that Faulkner's dealing with the rifles caused or bore any significant relationship to the McMillans' loss of other burglarized items. To sustain a restitution order for damages related to offenses a defendant was not charged with or convicted of, the state must demonstrate a significant relationship between the loss and the defendant's acts in committing the offense for which convicted.


Headnotes

[1] Restitution orders must be limited to damages or losses directly caused by the defendant's offense.

[2] A defendant's conviction for dealing in stolen property does not automatically render them responsible for all losses incurred during the underlying burglary.

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Key Quotes

“In order to sustain a restitution order which encompasses damage to victims for offenses a defendant is not charged with having committed, nor convicted of having committed, the state must demonstrate a significant relationship between the loss or damage sustained by the victim and the defendant's acts in committing the offense for which he was charged and convicted.”

Establishes the legal standard for restitution when damages relate to offenses beyond those of conviction

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Facts & Procedural History

Faulkner was charged with grand theft of a Remington rifle and Winchester rifle stolen from the McMillans' home. He pleaded nolo contendere to dealing…

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Opinion of the Court
W. SHARP, Judge.

W. SHARP, Judge.

Faulkner appeals from the trial court’s order of restitution which requires him to pay $10,000 to the McMillans, who were the victims of a burglary of their residence. He pled nolo contendere to dealing in stolen property,1 specifically a Remington rifle and a Winchester rifle. The rifles, together with other items, were stolen from the McMillans’ home. However, Faulkner did not admit to participating in the burglary, nor did he agree to assume any responsibility for damages suffered by the McMillans over and above the rifles, as part of his plea agreement. Because the restitution order apparently encompasses damages suffered by the victims unrelated to the theft and sale of the two rifles, we quash the restitution order. In this case, Faulkner was charged solely with two counts of grand theft,2 specifically involving only the Remington and Winchester rifles. He agreed to plead nolo contendere to a count of dealing in stolen property, which also related solely to the two rifles. The state nol prossed the two grand theft counts.

From their homeowners policy, the McMillans received $3,117. The police also recovered and returned to them some of the items which had been stolen, including the Remington rifle. The Winchester apparently was not recovered.

At the sentencing hearing, the trial judge allowed the McMillans to testify they lost other items during the burglary of their home. They listed the total value at $18,- 735. The trial judge arrived at the $10,000 sum in the restitution order by subtracting the insurance proceeds from the total value of the unrecovered items. Under the circumstances of this case, we can find no valid basis to affirm the court’s restitution order, except to the extent it compensates the McMillans for the loss of the Winchester rifle.

In order to sustain a restitution order which encompasses damage to victims for offenses a defendant is not charged with having committed, nor convicted of having committed, the state must demonstrate a significant relationship between the loss or damage sustained by the victim and the defendant’s acts in committing the offense for which he was charged and convicted. See Cliburn v. State, 510 So. 2d 1155 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). See also J.S.H. v. State, 472 So. 2d 737 (Fla.1985); Fresneda v. State, 347 So. 2d 1021 (Fla.1977); Roberts v. State, 467 So. 2d 439 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). For example, in J.S. & B.S.B. v. State, 16 F.L.W. 1230 (Fla. 3d DCA May 7, 1991), two juveniles were convicted of dealing in stolen property: a boat. They sold the boat to a third person who damaged it in an effort to conceal it in a shed. The court ruled such damage had a significant relationship to the dealing offense.

Here, however, Faulkner was not charged with theft of any items other than the two rifles; nor did he admit to the burglary. His plea to dealing related solely to the two rifles. Although other witnesses testified Faulkner may have been involved in the burglary, the McMillans’ loss of items other than the rifles was not tied to Faulkner’s offense.3

We conclude that the state failed to establish Faulkner’s dealing with the rifles caused or bore any significant relationship to the McMillans’ loss of other items burglarized from their home. Fresneda. That loss or damage was caused by the burglary, an offense with which Faulkner was not charged, to which he did not admit, and for which he was not found guilty. Accordingly, we quash the order of restitution and remand for entry of a revised order limited to damages for loss of the Winchester rifle.

Order QUASHED; REMANDED.

COWART and PETERSON, JJ., concur. . § 812.019, Fla.Stat. (1989).

. § 812.014, Fla.Stat. (1989).

. Section 948.03(l)(e), Florida Statutes, provides that restitution for damages is to be made for the “damages or loss caused by [defendant’s] offense.” (emphasis supplied)


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Citator

Cited By (14 total)

  • Bernard v. State, 859 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)
    …nue relating to the additional nineteen cable boxes must be reversed. Because Bernard was only charged in connection with selling one cable box, he can only be ordered to pay restitution for damages stemming from that offense. See Faulkner v. State, 582 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (holding that defendant charged with dealing in stolen property consisting of one rifle could not be ordered to pay restitution for second, unrecovered rifle; loss of second rifle was not caused by charged offense); Noland, 734 S…
  • Moore v. State, 623 So. 2d 842 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)
    …n the loss or damage sustained by the victim and the defendant’s acts in committing the offense for which [the defendant] was convicted.” Powell v. State, 595 So. 2d 223 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), rev. denied, 601 So. 2d 553 (Fla.1992); Faulkner v. State, 582 So. 2d 783 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). The state has not demonstrated such a relationship in this case. The state assumes that Moore is in fact the thief of the truck and that he knew there were tools in the truck at the time of the theft. These facts were not proved…
  • Euclides E. Peralta v. State, 596 So. 2d 1220 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)
    …determine the amount of repair associated with those items, we remand for the trial court to make that determination and order the correct amount of restitution. REVERSED and REMANDED. COBB, W. SHARP and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. . Faulkner v. State, 582 So. 2d 783, 784 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991).…

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