STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
GREGORY ALAN MORRIS, APPELLEE
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The State appealed the dismissal of a manslaughter charge against Gregory Alan Morris. The appellate court reversed the dismissal, finding that Morris's actions in allowing an unlicensed, inexperienced juvenile to drive while Morris was intoxicated created a foreseeable risk of harm, establishing a prima facie case for manslaughter.
Yes, the undisputed facts establish a prima facie case of manslaughter by culpable negligence. Morris's actions created a foreseeable risk of a deadly auto accident, and the harm that occurred was within the scope of the danger created by his negligent conduct.
[1] A motion to dismiss under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4) requires the movant to allege undisputed material facts demonstrating that the facts do not estab…
[2] When reviewing a trial court's ruling on a motion to dismiss, appellate courts must resolve inferences from all facts in the light most favorable to the State.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“Morris, in order to prevail on such a motion, must allege undisputed material facts, and show that the undisputed facts do not establish a prima facie case.”
Establishes the standard for a motion to dismiss in criminal cases.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMorris, intoxicated, allowed a 15-year-old, unlicensed, and inexperienced juvenile (C.S.) to drive his car on a dark rural highway late at night. The …
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LAWRENCE, Judge.
The State appeals the dismissal of an amended information charging Gregory Alan Morris (Morris) with manslaughter. The charge arose from an auto collision on January 12, 1996, in Santa Rosa County. We reverse.
Morris filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190(c)(4). Morris, in order to prevail on such a motion, must allege undisputed material facts, and show that the undisputed facts do not establish a prima facie case. State v. Parrish, 567 So. 2d 461 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). We are required to review the trial court’s ruling resolving inferences from all facts in the light most favorable to the State. Boler v. State, 678 So. 2d 319 (Fla.1996); Parrish. We moreover must determine, not whether a jury would find a defendant guilty of the charged crime but, rather, whether the facts could be sufficient for a jury to convict a defendant. State v. Knight, 622 So. 2d 188, 190 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (“Whether or not a jury would ultimately find or would be justified in finding [the defendant] guilty is not now our concern.”).
The facts of the instant case establish a prima facie case of manslaughter by culpable negligence. The trial court thus erred in ruling, as a matter of law, that the facts do not establish a prima facie case. The court reached this ruling by concluding that no proximate cause existed between Morris’s alleged culpable negligence and the homicide. We previously have explained the “proximate cause” requirement in vehicular homicide:
Proximate causation is of course an essential requirement for conviction of vehicular homicide. ... [I]f the intervening cause is foreseeable, the original negligent actor may yet be held liable. As Gibson demonstrates, it is necessary to determine whether the harm that occurred was within the scope of the danger created by the defendant’s negligent conduct. ...
Applying the above test to the facts before us, we see that although M.C.J. could not reasonably have foreseen the specific circumstance causing her to swerve her automobile, ie., the Fiat’s sudden turn into her lane of traffic, she should have reasonably foreseen that the same general type of harm might occur if she knowingly drove her vehicle with defective brakes at excessive speeds. Given the evidence before us, it is impossible to say, ... that there is no evidence that the original tortfeasor set in motion a chain of events resulting in the deaths of the occupants of the other vehicle.
M.C.J. v. State, 444 So. 2d 1001, 1005 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (citations omitted) (emphasis added) (holding that the state presented sufficient evidence to show that appellant’s actions were a proximate cause of the vehicular homicide). We apply the same explanation to the “proximate cause” requirement in the instant manslaughter by culpable negligence case.
The undisputed facts in the instant case are these. Morris left Selma, Alabama, with C.S., then fifteen, on a trip to Florida. Morris was driving a car owned by C.S.’s father. Morris, during the drive, consumed beer to the point of intoxication. Morris, swerving in and out of his lane, told C.S. that C.S. had to drive. C.S. protested because he had no driver’s license. Morris knew C.S. had neither daytime nor night driving experience. C.S. nevertheless agreed to drive because he knew Morris was drunk and he did not want to be stranded on the road late at night (it was approximately 1:00 A.M.). The road was a dark two-lane rural highway. C.S., asleep at the wheel, crossed the center lane, and struck and killed James Aeree. C.S. entered a guilty plea to driving without a license, and causing a death through negligence; he was sentenced to juvenile community control.
The trial court concluded that the cause of the instant fatality was “that the driver of the car fell asleep,” “not so much that the [unlicensed] person was driving, but that he fell asleep.” Morris however, like M.C.J., although he could not have foreseen the specific circumstance causing death — that C.S. would fall asleep at the wheel — nevertheless reasonably should have foreseen that the same general type of harm — a deadly auto accident — -might unfold from ordering a reluctant, unlicensed juvenile behind the wheel of a car, in the wee hours of the morning, on a dark, two-lane highway, with a drunk passenger unable to supervise in any way. The harm that occurred — a deadly auto accident — “was foreseeable and within the scope of the danger created by [Morris’s] negligent conduct.” Id. at 1005. The trial court thus erred as a matter of law in concluding that there is no evidence that Morris set in motion a chain of events resulting in the death of James Aeree. M.C.J.
We. therefore reverse the order dismiss ing the manslaughter count1 against Morris, and remand for consistent proceedings.
MICKLE and PADOVANO, JJ., concur. . The trial court properly dismissed another count. We affirm the dismissal of that count without discussion.
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Edner Michel and Fritz Joseph v. State, 752 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)…at 353. Furthermore, the fact that defendant was not driving the vehicle at the time of the accident does not preclude his prosecution for principal to vehicular homicide. A similar contention was recently addressed and rejected in State v. Morris, 740 So. 2d 554 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). In Moms, the defendant was driving a third party’s vehicle, but made his fifteen-year-old passenger drive the vehicle after he became too drunk to drive. The fifteen year-old-passenger fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the cente…
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Hernandez v. State, 959 So. 2d 355 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)…. of Fla., Inc. v. Keller, 439 So. 2d 283, 286 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983), review denied, 450 So. 2d 487 (Fla.1984), which actually culminated in the accident. See D.E. v. State, 904 So. 2d 558 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005); Michel, 752 So. 2d at 12; State v. Morris, 740 So. 2d 554 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998); see also Kitchen v. K-Mart Corp., 697 So. 2d 1200 (Fla.1997); Gibson v. Avis Rent-A-Car Sys., Inc., 386 So. 2d 520 (Fla.1980); Boggs v. Butler, 129 Fla. 324, 176 So. 174 (1937); Pacheco v. Fla. Power & Light Co., 784 So. 2d 1159…
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Morris v. State, 765 So. 2d 182 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)…PER CURIAM. Bound by the law of the case, we affirm. See State v. Morris, 740 So. 2d 554 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998); Warren v. Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, 700 So. 2d 702, 704 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). JOANOS, KAHN, and BENTON, JJ., CONCUR.…
Authorities Cited
- Afghari Boler v. State, 678 So. 2d 319 (Fla. 1996)
- M.C.J. v. State, 444 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
- State v. Parrish, 567 So. 2d 461 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)
- State v. Knight, 622 So. 2d 188 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)