WADE MCMILLIAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court affirmed the conviction for attempted first-degree murder, holding that evidence of the defendant lying in wait with a loaded rifle near his estranged wife's vehicle sufficiently demonstrated acts beyond mere preparation and intent to kill.
Evidence that the defendant lay in wait with a loaded rifle, safety off, 100 feet from his estranged wife's parked vehicle at her workplace, combined with prior threats to kill her, is sufficient to support a conviction for attempted first-degree murder.
[1] Lying in wait with a loaded firearm in close proximity to the victim's vehicle, combined with prior threats to kill, constitutes sufficient evidence of acts beyond mere p…
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COWART, Judge.
This case involves the sufficiency of evidence to support a conviction of attempted first degree murder. After threatening to kill his estranged wife, the defendant was apprehended by police as he was lying in wait with a loaded rifle, with the safety off, in bushes about 100 feet from the wife’s parked vehicle at her place of work.
The issue is whether the evidence is sufficient to show that the defendant’s acts toward the commission of a first degree murder went beyond mere preparation and whether the circumstantial evidence is sufficient to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, his intent to commit the offense. Legally this is a close case but we affirm the conviction and cite the following cases without long relevant quotes from them: Morehead v. State, 556 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 5th DCA1990); Thomas v. State, 531 So. 2d 708 (Fla.1988); and Stokes v. State, 92 Miss. 415, 46 So. 627 (1908), which is especially applicable. See also 4 Wharton’s Criminal Law, § 744 (14th Ed.1981); Annot., What Constitutes Attempted Murder, 54 A.L.R.3d 612.
We also hold the trial court properly used a category one guidelines scoresheet. Hayles v. State, 596 So. 2d 1236 (Fla. 1st DCA1992), approved, 608 So. 2d 13 (Fla. 1992); see also Orr v. State, 597 So. 2d 833, 834 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), rev. granted, 602 So. 2d 942 (Fla.1992).
AFFIRMED.
COBB and DIAMANTIS, JJ., concur.
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Citator
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State v. Antonial Walker, 705 So. 2d 589 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)…occasions, of cutting his hand, on one occasion, so that he would be taken off the premises and of having someone hide a gun on prison premises, on another, were separately insufficient to constitute an attempted escape. Id. In McMillian v. State, 609 So. 2d 721 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), applying the Morehead definition, evidence was held sufficient to sustain an attempted murder conviction where, after threatening to kill his estranged wife, the defendant was apprehended while apparently lying in wait with a lo…
Authorities Cited
- Thomas v. State, 531 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 1988)
- Morehead v. State, 556 So. 2d 523 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)
- Hayles v. State, 608 So. 2d 13 (Fla. 1992)
- Hayles v. State, 596 So. 2d 1236 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
- ORR v. State, 597 So. 2d 833 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992)