TYRONE J. SKEENS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Tyrone Skeens was convicted of both sexual battery and lewd and lascivious act upon a child based on a single act of penile penetration. The appellate court reversed the lewd and lascivious conviction as violating double jeopardy protections, holding that these two crimes are mutually exclusive when based on the same conduct.
The court held that the two convictions violate Skeens' constitutional protection against double jeopardy because sexual battery and lewd and lascivious act are mutually exclusive crimes when based on the same conduct. The conviction for lewd and lascivious act was reversed, while the sexual battery conviction was affirmed.
[1] Convictions for sexual battery and lewd and lascivious act based on the same conduct violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.
[2] A lewd and lascivious act conviction cannot stand when based on the same evidence and occurring during the same time period as a sexual battery conviction involving penil…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the crimes of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious act were mutually exclusive when based on the same act”
Establishes the foundational legal principle that these two offenses cannot both be sustained from identical conduct
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn March 5, 1996, Skeens went to the home of a fourteen-year-old victim he knew. When she attempted to leave for an appointment, he grabbed her should…
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CASANUEVA, Judge.
Tyrone J. Skeens appeals his convictions and sentences for sexual battery1 and lewd and lascivious act upon a child under sixteen.2 He raises four issues but we find merit in only one: whether the two convictions violate his constitutional right not to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense. We affirm the other issues with only a brief comment on one.
On March 5, 1996, Mr. Skeens went to the home of the fourteen-year-old victim with whom he was acquainted. No other persons were in the home at the time. According to the victim, after they visited for a short while she said she had to leave for an appointment. As she walked to the door, Mr. Skeens grabbed her shoulder and attempted to kiss her. She rebuffed his advance, whereupon he pushed her down onto a couch. He then pulled her clothing down from her waist and, despite her pleas to stop, he forced her legs apart and stuck his penis into her vagina. Mr. Skeens testified that the intercourse was consensual. The jury believed the victim and found Mr. Skeens guilty as charged in the two-count information.
The issue presented is whether, based on this evidence, the two convictions violate Mr. Skeens’ right to be free from double jeopardy as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution. In State v. Hightower, 509 So. 2d 1078 (Fla.1987), our supreme court examined the language of the statutes that defined these two crimes,3 and held that the crimes of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious act were mutually exclusive when based on the same act. The supreme court further observed that a cautious prosecutor would charge both offenses but should recognize that only one conviction can be obtained for the same conduct. Id. at 1079 n.
4. The prosecutor worded the information that charged Mr. Skeens in this careful manner. In Audano v. State, 641 So. 2d 1356 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), we reviewed whether the penetration of a victim’s vagina by the defendant’s fingers and the touching of her vagina with the defendant’s hands, when based on the same evidence and occurring during the same time period, could sustain two convictions, one for sexual battery and the other for committing a lewd and lascivious act. We held that in such circumstances the lewd and lascivious act conviction could not stand. That holding applies here because the evidence is undisputed that Mr. Skeens committed only one penile penetration that constituted the crime of sexual battery.
When the trial court sentenced Mr. Skeens for these two convictions, it used a scoresheet prepared under the 1995 sentencing guidelines. In Heggs v. State, 718 So. 2d 263 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998), we questioned, without deciding, whether this version of the guidelines was unconstitutional and referred the issue to the supreme court for immediate resolution. As yet, the supreme court has not resolved this issue. Upon remand when the trial court resentences Mr. Skeens for only one conviction, Mr. Skeens may take such action as he deems proper to preserve any sen tencing issue pending resolution of Heggs by the supreme court. Cf. Merritt v. State, 718 So. 2d 1263 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (unclear whether defendant’s sentence would be affected by calculation under earlier guidelines so, on remand, he may choose to raise and preserve issue in the trial court).
Conviction for sexual battery affirmed; conviction for lewd and lascivious act reversed; and remanded for resentencing in accordance with this opinion.
BLUE, A.C.J., and WHATLEY, J., Concur. . § 794.011(5), Fla. Stat. (1995).
. § 800.04(3), Fla. Stat. (1995).
.The supreme court examined the 1983 version of the statutes, which are not materially different from the statutes under which Mr. Skeens was charged and convicted.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Rios v. State, 791 So. 2d 1208 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)…that convictions for sexual battery and lewd and lascivious assault, arising from a single act, are prohibited by double jeopardy. State v. Hightower, 509 So. 2d 1078 (Fla.1987); Hausen v. State, 730 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999); Skeens v. State, 733 So. 2d 1094 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). In the instant case, the state charged Rios with capital sexual battery and lewd and lascivious assault upon a child based upon the same act. Specifically, Count I alleged that Rios committed a sexual battery by “inserting his p…
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Robinson v. State, 919 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)…fingers] went just on the inside or the outside,” she answered “the inside.” One act cannot support convictions for both sexual battery and lewd and lascivious conduct. See State v. Hightower, 509 So. 2d 1078, 1079 n. 4 (Fla.1987); Skeens v. State, 733 So. 2d 1094, 1095-96 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); cf. Audano v. State, 641 So. 2d 1356, 1361 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994). As we recently stated in Johnson v. State, 913 So. 2d 1291, 1291 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005), convictions for sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation violat…
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Skeens v. State, 853 So. 2d 494 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)…convicted by a jury of one count of sexual battery and one count of lewd and lascivious act upon a child under sixteen. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison on each count to run concurrently. Skeens appealed and this court in Skeens v. State, 733 So. 2d 1094, 1096 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (Skeens I), affirmed the sexual battery conviction, reversed the lewd and lascivious conviction, and remanded for resentencing. In 1999, Skeens was resentenced under the 1995 sentencing guidelines to thirteen years in priso…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Heggs v. State, 718 So. 2d 263 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)
- State v. Hightower, 509 So. 2d 1078 (Fla. 1987)
- Audano v. State, 641 So. 2d 1356 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)
- Davids v. Davids, 718 So. 2d 1263 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)