OTIS MICHAEL WATSON, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1997-10-01
No. 96-3575
Before COPE, GERSTEN and SHEVIN, JJ.
699 So. 2d 835 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1997) Caution
Cited by 8 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.

Synopsis

Watson appealed a restitution order requiring him to pay $204,000 for damages from a grand theft conviction. The appellate court affirmed restitution for losses directly caused by the theft of mixing boards but reversed the $125,000 award for unrecovered equipment for which Watson was not charged.


Holding

The court affirmed restitution for lost income, contractor payments, and truck damages as they were causally connected to the theft of mixing boards. However, the court reversed the $125,000 award for additional equipment because Watson was not charged with stealing those items and restitution must be limited to damages stemming from the charged offense.


Headnotes

[1] Restitution may be ordered for damage or loss caused directly or indirectly by the defendant's offense, or damage or loss related to the defendant's criminal episode.

[2] To order restitution, a trial court must find that the loss or damage is causally connected to the offense and bears a significant relationship to the offense.

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Key Quotes

“To order restitution under this provision, a trial court "must find that the loss or damage is causally connected to the offense and bears a significant relationship to the offense."”

Establishes the legal standard for determining what damages can be included in a restitution order.

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Facts & Procedural History

Watson was charged with grand theft of mixing boards belonging to a sound and lighting company owner. He pleaded nolo contendere and agreed to a sente…

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Opinion of the Court
COPE, Judge.

COPE, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order entered by the circuit court requiring the appellant, Otis Watson, to pay restitution for damages stemming from a grand theft charge.

The State charged Watson by information with a single count of grand theft, alleging that in June 1996, Watson “did knowingly, unlawfully and feloniously obtain or use or did endeavor to obtain or use MIXING BOARDS,” which were the property of Kenneth Watkivs, the owner of a sound and lighting company in Broward County. The State subsequently filed a statement of particulars, which averred that “a track full of equipment” belonging to the victim had been stolen and that some, but not all, of the property had been recovered in a storage unit belonging to the defendant. Watson agreed to enter a plea of nolo contendere to the grand theft charge in the information in return for a sentence of ten years probation and a cap of $204,000 on restitution paid to the victim.

At the restitution hearing, the victim testified that while the mixing boards had been recovered from Watson’s storage unit, $125,-000 in additional equipment had not been recovered. The victim also testified that because of the theft he had lost $50,000 in income, paid $25,000 to other contractors to fulfill his contractual obligations, and i sustained $4000 in damages to the stolen truck. Finding that the victim’s testimony was sufficient to connect Watson to the theft of the truck and the equipment it had contained, the trial court ordered him to pay $204,000 in restitution.

Section 775.089(l)(a), Florida Statutes (1995), provides in pertinent part:

In addition to any punishment, the court shall order the defendant to make restitution to the victim for:

1. Damage or loss caused directly or indirectly by the defendant’s offense; and

2. Damage or loss related to the defendant’s criminal episode....

To order restitution under this provision, a trial court “must find that the loss or damage is causally connected to the offense and bears a significant relationship to the offense.” Glaubius v. State, 688 So. 2d 913, 915 (Fla.1997). The causation and significant relationship tests work in conjunction with, and not independently of, each other. See State v. Williams, 520 So. 2d 276, 277 (Fla.1988).

The trial court here found Watson guilty of grand theft of the mixing boards. Thus, the trial court could only have ordered restitution for damages that bore a significant relationship to and were directly or indirectly caused by Watson’s act of unlawfully obtaining or using the mixing boards. See id. at 278. The victim’s lost income and payments to other contractors were caused by the theft of the mixing boards and were thus proper items for restitution. Similarly, the damage to the truck was sufficiently connected to Watson’s act as well. See J.S.H. v. State, 472 So. 2d 737, 738 (Fla.1985) (finding that damage to boat bottom was necessary for defendant to perpetrate charged crime of engine-part theft and was thus proper item for restitution).

However, we conclude that the $125,-000 award for theft of additional equipment must be reversed, because Watson was not charged with stealing the additional items of property. If Watson had been charged with the theft of this additional equipment, then restitution would have been proper. Watson, however, was only charged with grand theft of the mixing boards. As such, 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) (defendant charged with dealing in stolen property consisting of one rifle could not be ordered to pay restitution for second, unre-covered riñe; loss of second rifle was not caused by charged offense). The trial court’s order is reversed in part and remanded with instructions to reduce the amount of the restitution award by $125,000.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Bernard v. State, 859 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)
    …gnificant relationship to the offense.” Glaubius, 688 So. 2d at 915. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by ordering restitution for Time Warner’s lost revenue related to Bernard’s admitted use of one stolen cable box. See Watson v. State, 699 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (holding that victim’s lost income was caused by theft of mixing boards and was proper item for restitution). Notwithstanding, we conclude, and the State conceded at oral argument, that the $788,880 award for loss of cable service…
  • Johnston v. State, 870 So. 2d 877 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004)
    …efendant’s criminal episode. § 775.089(l)(a), Fla. Stat. (Supp.1994). However, the general rule is that restitution may not be ordered for any loss which resulted from an offense for which the defendant was not charged or convicted. Watson v. State, 699 So. 2d 835, 837 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Smith v. State, 664 So. 2d 1047, 1048 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); Faulkner v. State, 582 So. 2d 783, 784 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); Denson v. State, 556 So. 2d 823, 824 [*879] (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). Nonetheless, the general rule does not ap…
  • K.N. v. State, 61 So. 3d 1258 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)
    …der section 775.089, the State must prove that the loss or damage for which the defendant is being ordered to pay, is causally connected to the offense and bears a significant relationship to it. See § 775.089(7), Fla. Stat. (2010); Watson v. State, 699 So. 2d 835, 836 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997). In this case, K.N. pled guilty to trespass and admitted only to entering or remaining in the home at issue without permission. She did not admit to criminal mischief or to theft, both of which were abandoned. Therefore, to o…

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