LEWIS REYES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1998-04-03
No. 97-669
THOMPSON and ANTOON, JJ., concur.
709 So. 2d 181 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1998) Negative Treatment
Cited by 24 cases

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Synopsis

Lewis Reyes appeals his conviction and sentence for attempted sexual battery. The court affirms the conviction but vacates the sentence and remands for re-sentencing because the trial court erroneous included 18 victim injury points on the sentencing scoresheet when the facts did not establish the required sexual contact or union.


Holding

The conviction for attempted sexual battery is affirmed, but the sentence is vacated and the case is remanded for re-sentencing because the 18 victim injury points for 'sex contact' were erroneously included when the facts did not establish a union or the type of contact contemplated by the sentencing guidelines statute.


Headnotes

[1] Victim injury points for sexual contact on a sentencing guidelines scoresheet require evidence of physical injury or death, or specific statutory provisions for sexual pe…

[2] For offenses involving sexual contact without penetration, victim injury points are scored as moderate injury, regardless of evidence of physical injury, if the offense i…

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Key Quotes

“If the conviction is for an offense involving sexual contact which does not include sexual penetration, the sexual contact must be scored [as] a moderate injury, regardless of whether there is evidence of any physical injury.”

Establishes the statutory definition of victim injury for sexual contact offenses without penetration

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Facts & Procedural History

Lewis Reyes was convicted of attempted sexual battery under Florida law. The conduct at issue involved fondling of a female breast and making a sexual…

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Opinion of the Court
PETERSON, Judge.

PETERSON, Judge.

Lewis Reyes appeals his conviction and sentence for attempted sexual battery in violation of sections 777.04 and 794.011(5), Florida Statutes (1995). We affirm the conviction but vacate the sentence and remand for re-sentencing.

The only issue in which we find merit is the erroneous inclusion of 18 points on the scoresheet for victim injury under the category “sex contact.” In order to include those points the facts must establish victim injury, defined in section 921.0011(7), Florida Statutes (1993):

(7) “Victim injury” means the physical injury or death suffered by a person as a direct result of the ... offense.... If the conviction is for an offense involving sexual contact which includes sexual penetration, the sexual penetration must be scored as a severe injury regardless of whether there is evidence of any physical injury. If the conviction is for an offense involving sexual contact which does not include sexual penetration, the sexual contact must be scored as a moderate injury, regardless of whether there is evidence of any physical injury.

The term sexual battery in section 794.011 is defined as follows:

(h) “Sexual battery” means oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object; however, sexual battery does not include an act done for a bona fide medical purpose.

(Emphasis added). Thus, a sexual battery occurs, with or without actual penetration, so long as there is a union of the sexual organ of one person with the oral, anal or vaginal openings of another. The Florida Standard Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases provide that for cases of sexual battery, in which union is at issue, the jury should be instructed that union means “contact.” The union or “contact” contemplated by these jury instructions did not occur in the instant case. The contact here was the fondling of a female breast and the making of a sexually suggestive comment in the course and commission of an attempted sexual battery.

In Karchesky v. State, 591 So. 2d 930 (Fla. 1992), the supreme court determined that victim injury points on a sentencing guidelines scoresheet could not be added for penetration or contact because neither could be fairly equated to “physical injury” or “physical trauma.” Shortly after Karchesky, the legislature enacted a statute which provided that for crimes of Chapter 794 (sexual battery), chapter 800 (lewdness, including statutory rape), and section 826.04 (incest), which involve sexual penetration, the points indicated for penetration or slight injury on the scoresheet shall be added, and that for such crimes which do not include sexual penetration but do include sexual contact, points must be added for “contact but no penetration.” See § 921.001(8), Fla. Stat. (Supp. 1992). The legislature, in requiring points for sexual contact in this original statute as well as its successor, the one at issue, appeal’s to be referring only to the contact occurring in a sexual battery by union without penetration.

The facts of this case do not establish that a union took place, and because removal of the contact points would alter the recommended sentence, we remand for resentencing.

CONVICTION AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED, REMANDED.

THOMPSON and ANTOON, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (11 total)

  • Seagrave v. State, 802 So. 2d 281 (Fla. 2001)
    …ling and kissing a child’s breasts qualified as “sexual contact” within section 921.0011(7)(b)2. See Seagrave, 768 So. 2d at 1123. In reaching this conclusion in Kitts, the Fifth District expressly receded from its prior decisions in Reyes v. State, 709 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998), and Spioch v. State, 742 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999), review granted, 760 So. 2d 948 (Fla.2000). See Kitts, 766 So. 2d at 1069; Seagrave, 768 So. 2d at 1123. In Reyes, the defendant was convicted of attempted sexual battery…
  • Wright v. State, 739 So. 2d 1230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)
    …re not synonymous. See State v. Pate, 656 So. 2d 1323, 1325 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) (given definition of “sexual battery,” which includes “union with” sexual organ of another or “penetration,” State is not required to prove penetration); Reyes v. State, 709 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998); Dorch v. State, 458 So. 2d 357 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). The amended information alleged that Wright had placed his penis “in or upon” the victim’s vagina. Like the offense in May, unlawful sexual activity with a minor does not neces…
  • Altman v. State, 756 So. 2d 148 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …h physical injury must be scored separately and in addition to the points scored for the sexual contact or the sexual penetration. The case appellant relies on for the proposition that contact points should not have been assessed is Reyes v. State, 709 So. 2d 181 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998). Reyes interpreted the new guidelines under which appellant had been resentenced and changed the case law from when appellant was originally sentenced. In Reyes, the defendant’s conviction was for attempted sexual battery for fon…

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