ANTHONY VALENCIA, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Florida appellate court affirmed manslaughter conviction, holding that defendant's unprovoked punch causing victim's fatal fall did not constitute excusable homicide under sudden combat doctrine.
An unprovoked punch that causes a victim to fall and die is manslaughter, not excusable homicide under the sudden combat statute, when there was no actual or figurative combat between the parties.
[1] An unprovoked punch causing death during a casual encounter, without prior threats or squared-off combat, constitutes manslaughter rather than excusable homicide under th…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDefendant Valencia struck the deceased in the face with his fist while the two were walking toward the kitchen in a third party's house, causing the d…
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PER CURIAM.
This is an appeal by the defendant Anthony Valencia from a final judgment of conviction and sentence for manslaughter which was entered below based on an adverse jury verdict. The sole point on appeal is that the evidence adduced by the state at trial was insufficient to support the defendant’s conviction for manslaughter, and that, accordingly, the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motions for judgment of acquittal at the close of the state’s ease and at the close of all the evidence. We disagree and affirm.
Contrary, to the defendant’s argument, the evidence adduced at trial does not establish, as a matter of law, that the defendant’s admitted killing of the deceased was an excusable homicide upon a sudden combat as defined by Section 782.03, Florida Statutes (1989).
To the contrary, there was no actual or figurative sudden combat between the defendant and the deceased at all; the two had not squared off for a physical fight or indeed even exchanged threats or angry words. Simply put, the evidence shows that the defendant unexpectedly turned and struck the deceased in the face with the defendant’s fist, while the two were walking toward the kitchen in the house of a third party, causing the deceased to fall and hit his head on the floor which led to his death. This was a classic manslaughter under Section 782.07, Florida Statutes (1989), and was in no sense an excusable homicide upon a sudden combat. See Tuff v. State, 509 So. 2d 953 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Brate v. State, 469 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 479 So. 2d 117 (Fla.1985).
Affirmed.
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Maynard v. State, 660 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)…s preparing to engage her in a physical confrontation.1 Thus, we conclude that there was insufficient proof of an actual or figurative combat between the appellant and the victim to establish excusable homicide as a matter of law. Valencia v. State, 597 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992); cf. Tipton v. State, 97 So. 2d 277 (Fla.1957) (death of victim from heart attack preceded by “a battle of vituperation, climaxed by rude pushes” constituted excusable homicide and not manslaughter); Aiken v. State, 425 So. 2d 641…
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Weir v. State, 777 So. 2d 1073 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)…orida homicide statute. It is clear ... that every act causally connected with the killing of a human being is not punished by the homicide chapter, and more specifically, not by the general manslaughter statute. Id. at 282. In Valencia v. State, 597 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), where “the defendant unexpectedly turned and struck the deceased in the face with defendant’s fist, while the two were walking toward the kitchen in the house of a third party, causing the deceased to fall and hit his head on the…
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J.J.W. v. State, 892 So. 2d 1189 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)…nd collapsed. He died after life support was removed. The court held that the circumstances did not amount to excusable homicide because, since the victim had not been fighting, there was no “sudden combat.” Id. at 1075-76 (citing Valencia v. State, 597 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)). Also similar is Acosta v. State, 884 So. 2d 112 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), in which two groups of high school students decided to meet in a parking lot to fight. The defendant asked the victim if he really wanted to fight, and the vic…
Authorities Cited
- Tuff v. State, 509 So. 2d 953 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987)
- Brate v. State, 469 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985)