MARK TEAL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Mark Teal appeals his conviction for first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm. The court affirmed his murder conviction but remanded for resentencing on the attempted robbery charge due to the trial court's failure to use a proper sentencing scoresheet.
The court held that Teal was not entitled to the independent acts instruction because his trial counsel failed to request it and did not object to its omission, precluding him from raising the issue for the first time on appeal. However, the court held that the trial court erred by sentencing Teal to 15 years for attempted robbery without using a proper scoresheet and without formally expressing reasons for the departure from the permissive incarceration ceiling of 4½ years.
[1] A defendant is not entitled to an "independent act" jury instruction on direct appeal if the instruction was not requested and no objection was made at trial.
[2] A defendant is entitled to have his sentencing guidelines scoresheet correctly calculated and to have the trial court consider whether departure from the guidelines shoul…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Where there is evidence from which a jury could determine that the acts of the co-felons resulting in murder were independent of the joint felony, a defendant is entitled to an instruction that if the murder was such an independent act, not committed in furtherance of, or in the course of, the joint felony, the jury should find the defendant not guilty of felony murder.”
Establishes the rule for when independent acts instructions are due in felony murder cases
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTeal, who had dated the victim's daughter, learned from her that her father possessed guns and carried large sums of money. Teal stole the victim's gu…
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POLEN, Judge.
Mark Teal appeals his conviction and sentence for first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm. He alleges as error the trial court’s unchallenged omission of an unrequested jury instruction on the “independent acts doctrine.” Secondly, he alleges that the trial court erred by failing to use a proper sentencing scoresheet in sentencing him for the noncapital offense. We affirm the judgment of the trial court and the sentence for the capital felony, but remand for resentencing on the attempted robbery with instruction that a properly prepared score-sheet be utilized.
Defendant, who had dated the victim’s daughter, was privy to information that her father, Mr. Southward, had guns in his home and regularly carried large sums of money. As a result of information he learned from the victim’s daughter, Teal stole Mr. Southward’s own gun, gave it to his codefendants, and conspired with them to rob him. Teal was not actually at the scene when the victim was robbed and killed, but was waiting nearby to drive the codefendants away from the scene. He testified that he heard the shots, but maintained that, pursuant to their plan, “nobody was supposed to get shot,” and claimed renunciation of the crime under the attempt instruction. Defendant alleges that the trial court should have given an “independent act” instruction, notwithstanding the fact that it was never requested at trial. Where there is evidence from which a jury could determine that the acts of the co-felons resulting in murder were independent of the joint felony, a defendant is entitled to an instruction that if the murder was such an independent act, not committed in furthei'anee of, or in the course of, the joint felony, the jury should find the defendant not guilty of felony murder. Bryant v. State, 412 So. 2d 347 (Fla.1982).
However, here, unlike Bryant, where defendant’s trial counsel failed to request an “independent act” instruction, and did not object to it not being given, he cannot raise the issue for the first time on direct appeal. Amrhein v. State, 622 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993).
Thus, we find no merit to defendant’s first issue on appeal.
However, we do find merit to defendant’s second issue on appeal.
Under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.988(c), the permissive incareerative ceiling for committing the attempted robbery was four and one-half (4½) years.
Nevertheless, the trial judge sentenced him to a term of 15 years of incarceration, to be served concurrently with his sentence for the capital murder, without formally expressing any reason for this de facto departure.
Pursuant to Taylor v. State, 563 So. 2d 822 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990), while the sentencing guidelines do not apply to the capital crime, a proper scoresheet must be prepared and used when sentencing for other offenses pending before the court. An appellant is “entitled to have his guidelines scoresheet correctly calculated and, similarly, the trial court should be given an opportunity to consider whether departure from the guidelines should be ordered.” State v. Chaplin, 490 So. 2d 52, 53 n. 1 (Fla. 1986). In the instant case, appellant’s existing concurrent sentence for the attempted robbery will expire long before he finishes serving the mandatory minimum portion of his sentence for murder.
Nevertheless, defendant is entitled to be properly sentenced on this count.
We reverse on this issue and remand for resentencing on the attempted robbery with a firearm.
GUNTHER, C.J., and FARMER, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Barfield v. State, 762 So. 2d 564 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)…rom acts committed by another defendant, which departed from the original plan. Parker v. State, 458 So. 2d 750, 752 (Fla.1984). See also Bryant v. State, 412 So. 2d 347 (Fla.1982); Walker v. State, 671 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996); Teal v. State, 658 So. 2d 603 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995); Rossi v. State, 602 So. 2d 614 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); Rodriguez v. State, 571 So. 2d 1356 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). The trial judge agreed at the charge conference that -the Independent Act defense appeared to “fit,” and both the judge…
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Delbert Wayne Chapman v. State, 742 So. 2d 854 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)…jury constituted fundamental error. Absent a request for an “independent act” instruction or objection to it not being given, however, a defendant may not raise the failure to give this instruction for the first time on direct appeal. Teal v. State, 658 So. 2d 603, 604 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995). Last, Chapman complains that part of the videotaped record of his interrogation was improperly shown to the jury. He raises fifteen instances where the court erroneously refused to redact dialogue deemed by Chapman to be p…
Authorities Cited
- Bryant v. State, 412 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1982)
- THE Florida BAR v. Aronson, 412 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1982)
- State v. Chaplin, 490 So. 2d 52 (Fla. 1986)
- Taylor v. State, 563 So. 2d 822 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
- Amrhein v. State, 622 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993)
- Henderson v. State, 622 So. 2d 172 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)