STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
JOSEPH ALTAMURA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1996-06-19
No. 95-02483
FRANK, A.C.J., and QUINCE, J., concur.
676 So. 2d 29 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1996) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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.


Holding

The court held that the trial court properly granted the defendant's motion in arrest of judgment because the jury instruction on vehicular homicide was improper as the elements of that crime were not charged in the information.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant cannot be convicted of a crime for which they were not charged in the accusatory pleading.

[2] A lesser included offense may be a category two permissive lesser included offense only if its elements are both alleged in the accusatory pleading and proven at trial.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The defendant was charged with DUI manslaughter. Over objection, the trial court instructed the jury on vehicular homicide as a lesser included offens…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
FULMER, Judge.

FULMER, Judge.

Pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.140(e)(1)(D), the state appeals a posttrial order granting the defendant’s motion for arrest of judgment. We affirm the trial court’s determination that the defendant was improperly convicted of a crime for which he was not charged. The defendant, Joseph Altamura, was charged with a single count of DUI manslaughter. Over defense objection, the trial court included a jury instruction on vehicular homicide as a category two lesser included offense. The jury found the defendant guilty of vehicular homicide. The defendant timely filed a motion in arrest of judgment contending that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on vehicular homicide because the elements of that crime were not charged in the information.

DUI manslaughter is defined, in pertinent part, by section 316.193, Florida Statutes (1993):

(1) A person is guilty of the offense of driving under the influence and is subject to punishment as provided in subsection (2) if such person is driving or in actual physical control of a vehicle within this state and:
(a) The person is under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substance set forth in s. 877.111, or any substance controlled under chapter 893, when affected to the extent that his faculties are impaired; or (b) The person has a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher. (3) Any person:
(a) Who is in violation of subsection (1);

(b) Who operates a vehicle; and (c) Who, by reason of such operation, causes:

3. The death of any human being is guilty of DUI manslaughter, a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

Vehicular homicide is defined in section 782.071(1), Florida Statutes (1993), as “the killing of a human being by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.” The information filed in this ease alleged that the defendant,

did unlawfully cause the death of a human being, Gregory Richardson, by the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a substance controlled by Florida Statutes, Chapter 893, and was affected to the extent that his normal faculties were impaired or had a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or higher; contrary to Chapter 316.193, Florida Statutes, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Florida.

The state contends that these allegations are sufficient to encompass the crime of vehicular homicide. We disagree. A brief review of the history of the DUI manslaughter statute, as outlined by the supreme court in Magaw v. State, 537 So. 2d 564 (Fla.1989), will explain our conclusion. Prior to 1986, the manslaughter by intoxication statute was construed to impose strict criminal liability. Appellate courts consistently held that negligence and proximate causation were not elements of the offense. Baker v. State, 377 So. 2d 17 (Fla.1979). Consequently, when called upon to determine whether vehicular homicide was a necessarily lesser included offense of DUI manslaughter, the supreme court held it was not because vehicular homicide had a causation element (i.e., reckless driving) and DUI manslaughter did not. See Higdon v. State, 490 So. 2d 1252 (Fla.1986).

In 1986, the DUI manslaughter statute was amended. The supreme court concluded that the amendment introduced a causation element. However, it required “only that the operation of the vehicle should have caused the accident.” Magaw, 537 So. 2d at 567. The court further explained that “any deviation or lack of care on the part of a driver under the influence to which the fatal accident can be attributed will suffice.” Magaw, 537 So. 2d at 567. Thereafter, in order to satisfy the causation element of DUI manslaughter, the state was required to prove only simple negligence in the operation of a vehicle. Even though a causation element has been added to the offense of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide is still not a necessarily lesser included offense because it contains an element that DUI manslaughter does not — reckless driving.

However, it may be a category two permissive lesser included offense if its elements are both alleged in the accusatory pleading and proven at trial. State v. Von Deck, 607 So. 2d 1388 (Fla.1992). Looking once again at the allegations in the information, we note the absence of the essential allegation that the vehicle was operated “in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another person.” Thus, while the information sufficiently tracks the language of the DUI manslaughter statute, it does not also encompass the vehicular homicide statute. The motion in arrest of judgment was properly granted because it was error to instruct the jury on vehicular homicide.

Affirmed.

FRANK, A.C.J., and QUINCE, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Wilson v. State, 749 So. 2d 516 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999)
    …ular homicide is not a necessarily lesser included offense of [*519] the crime of DUI manslaughter because the offense of vehicular homicide contains the element of reckless driving which is not an element of DUI manslaughter. See State v. Altamura, 676 So. 2d 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996). The next issue is whether the trial court erred in determining that vehicular homicide was not a permissive lesser included offense to the crime of DUI manslaughter under the facts in this case. As noted above, a permissive less…
  • Apple v. State, 746 So. 2d 1259 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)
    …vehicular homicide3 as a category two lesser included offense of DUI manslaughter over Apple’s objection.4 Apple was found guilty and convicted of vehicular homicide. Apple filed a motion for arrest of judgment, relying in part on State v. Altamura, 676 So. 2d 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996), arguing that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on vehicular homicide because the elements of that crime were not charged in the information. In Altamura, the trial court granted the defendant’s motion in arrest of ju…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw